Susan Roces has passed away at the age of 80. Her daughter announced the news on Instagram with the caption:

“With great sadness, we announce the loss of our beloved Jesusa Sonora Poe, whom many of you know as Susan Roces.

She passed away peacefully on a Friday evening, May 20, 2022, surrounded by love and warmth, with her daughter Grace, her nephews Joseph and Jeffrey and many of her family and close friends. She lived life fully and gracefully.

Remember her in her beauty, warmth and kindness. She is now with the Lord and her beloved Ronnie — FPJ. We will miss her sorely but we celebrate a life well-lived.

Susan Roces — daughter, mother, grandmother, a true Filipina and a national treasure.”

Who are Grace Poe’s biological mother and father?

Poe was found on September 3, 1968, in the holy water font of Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral. The parish priest named her “Grace” in the belief that her finding was through the grace of God. She was later christened by Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Jaro.

An announcement was issued with the hope that her biological mother would come forward and claim her. However, no one came forward.

She was eventually taken in by the Militar family. Edgardo, Sayong Militar’s in-law, was a signatory on her foundling certificate. The name on her certificate was Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Militar.

Later, Sayong Militar passed Poe to Tessie Ledesma Valencia. Valencia was also a friend of Fernando Poe, Jr. and Susan Roces, who were newlyweds at the time.

Her adoptive parents took her in after Valencia decided that she would be better off with two parents in the Philippines rather than with her as a single parent in the United States.

After she was legally adopted, her name was changed to Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe.