There is no need to go to a dictionary to determine what defines a patriot when Filipino film icon and presidential hopeful Fernando Poe Jnr is standing before you. In his trademark sunglasses and blue jeans, surrounded by thuggish-looking bodyguards, only one word can pass your lips - patriot.
Just a few days ago, some Filipinos were saying otherwise. With the Supreme Court trying to determine whether Poe was Filipino, American or neither, it was touch and go.
After all, the law of the land - as with most countries - is that only a true native can be president. Poe walked the walk and talked the talk, but someone in the opposition had found he was born out of wedlock 64 years ago to an American mother and a Filipino father. That was in the days when the Philippines was still an American colony, which, the argument went, made him an American.
His parents got married a year later and the Philippines won independence six years after that, but facts are facts, hissed the objectors to the enormously popular star's candidacy for May's presidential poll. It did not help that Poe's siblings were American citizens or that he seemed unwilling to disprove claims that he had an American passport. Nor did the fact that he is not renowned for giving interviews to journalists aid his case.
Most troubling of all - and herein lies the reason for all the hullabaloo - Poe has no experience in public office and is a close friend of Joseph Estrada, whom President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ousted a little over two years ago. Mrs Arroyo just happens to be Poe's chief election rival.
It is at times like these, after all, that matters of eligibility, like nationality and patriotism, become an issue. Locked up in prison on corruption charges and unable to run for president, Estrada is pulling all the strings for legitimacy that he can get his hands on. In true Filipino fashion, Mrs Arroyo's supporters are doing their darnedest to clutch at straws as well as strings.
Last Wednesday, after weeks of sifting the facts, the court determined that Poe is Filipino after all and could return to the election campaign trail. After jetting into the central island of Leyte on Thursday, he had some rare words for reporters: 'We're on a roll. I guess there are no more obstacles. I felt like a fish bone was removed from my throat.'
