Senator Grace Poe admitted on Wednesday being hurt by the revelation of a Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) official that the agency's 2004 program on the distribution of free insurance cards undercut the election campaign of her late father, Fernando Poe Jr.

"You know, I am very emotional about that," Poe said during the virtual Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum when asked about her thoughts on the reported "Plan 5M" discussed by PhilHealth regional vice president Dennis Adre in the Senate hearing Tuesday.

"Siyempre noong binanggit niya 'yon, parang sugat 'yan na naghihilom na pero may kirot pa rin (Of course, when he mentioned that, it's like a healing wound that still hurts)," she admitted.

During the Senate Commitee of the Whole's inquiry on the alleged corruption in PhilHealth, Adre claimed that the state insurer started incurring financial losses after it launched in 2004 what he called the "Plan Five Million", wherein PhilHealth cards were distributed to five million indigent families nationwide under the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office's "Greater Medicare Access" Program.

He said the program launched by then Health Secretary Francisco Duque III ahead of the 2004 presidential elections, when former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would vie for a full, six-year presidency against popular actor Fernando Poe, Jr., Sen. Panfilo Lacson and evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva.

"Noon pong may survey na the late FPJ ay nangunguna ng five million votes sa survey, kaya po five million din ang cards na ipinamigay ng PhilHealth na libre. (There was a survey which showed that the late Fernando Poe Jr. was leading by five million votes, that's why the PhilHealth decided to distribute five million free cards)," Adre said.

Duque denied Adre's allegation.

"I didn't really expect it to come out although I know that Duque was involved," Poe said.

Poe, however, maintained that it was "good to remember those things" to prevent the repeat of the anomalies.

"This is more than just obviously the election of 2004, although for me it holds a special concern because of my dad, but this is also something we need to realize in order to prevent it from happening again using government institutions and funds to advance the candidacy of any administration official," she said.

During the online forum, Poe remembered her father, who was supposed to celebrate his birthday on Thursday, August 20.

"Even myself, I've been telling myself move forward, but it was brought up yesterday and Neil (her husband) said 'Well, maybe because it’s also your Dad's birthday'," she said.

"I know that he’s there. I know that he is watching," said the senator.

Fernando Poe Jr. died of stroke in December 2004, while his protest against Arroyo for supposed election fraud was pending before the Supreme Court. The high court dismissed the case in March, 2005.