In her first public reaction to a scandal over her daughter, former President Corazon Aquino on Saturday urged critics to stop condemning her daughter for becoming pregnant and running off with a married man nearly twice her age.
"I am here today to ask for your prayers and also to ask those who have condemned (my daughter) Kris to stop it," Aquino told a national convention of single parents. "It has pained me so much when I read about people condemning my daughter."Kris Aquino, 23, the youngest and most outspoken of Corazon Aquino's five children, left the family home in November after she became pregnant by actor Philip Salvador, 41.
Kris Aquino is among the highest paid television and movie stars in the Philippines.
Salvador has three children with his wife and another child with a former model.
Corazon Aquino, a devout Roman Catholic, said she had originally refused to talk about her daughter's relationship and pregnancy.
"I have not heard of a mother talking about this particular kind of problem publicly, but this is the price of fame or infamy," she added. "It just upsets me so much, and it really gives me so much pain, but now I think I can talk about it."
She said she did not force her youngest daughter to leave their family home after learning about her pregnancy.
She said she tried to dissuade her daughter from maintaining a relationship with Salvador but was ignored.