Grace gets Lovi’s support, whether she asks or not

LOVI Poe

Actress Lovi Poe vows to support the senatorial bid of half-sister Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares, whether or not the latter asks for help.

“Given the chance, I’d campaign for her,” Lovi told writers at the press conference of “Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles,” her latest movie.

Lovi and Grace are daughters of the late King of Philippine movies, Fernando Poe Jr, who ran for president in 2004 but lost. He died of a heart attack in December of the same year.

Lovi is Ronnie’s (Poe’s nickname) daughter with former commercial model Rowena Moran, whom he worked with in the 1987 film, “Kapag Puno na ang Salop.”

Grace, his daughter with actress Susan Roces, was appointed chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board in 2010. She is a guest candidate of both the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) and the administration coalition, Liberal Party.

Lovi is convinced that “Filipinos need someone like Ate Grace. Papa had a lot of plans. I’m sure she knew about them and she could carry out those plans.”

However, Lovi was mum when asked if she would also campaign for her ex-boyfriend, former Ilocos Sur Rep. Ronald Singson, who is again running for the post. “I’m not from Ilocos,” she said. “I don’t think I’m needed there.”

Did she regret her past connection with Singson, who was convicted of drug charges and jailed in Hong Kong in 2011 ?

Lovi replied: “The connection will always be there … I went through the experience with him without regrets. I learned a lot from that. I’m OK now.”

As for the persistent rumor romantically linking her to actor Jake Cuenca, Lovi said: “It may sound cliché-ish, but we’re really just good friends. He has never courted me, and that’s the truth.”

Lovi said she found Dingdong Dantes, her leading man in “Tiktik,” to be “a really good actor. He’s adorable and charming, though he plays a bad boy in this movie. He is pleasant to work with. He takes care of his co-actors. He doesn’t act like a big star.”

“Tiktik,” directed by Erik Matti, opened October 17 in theaters nationwide.