MANILA - Senator and presidential aspirant Grace Poe has confirmed that her husband, businessman Neil Llamanzares, was a member of the United States Air Force.

In a campaign sortie in Northern Samar, Poe said she has never hidden the fact that her husband is a former member of the US military.

"Hindi yung tinatago. Hindi ko alam kung bakit issue yan," she told reporters.

She added: "Isipin niyo. Si dating pangulo [Fidel Ramos] nga nag Westpoint, si Transportation Secretary Jun Abaya nag-Annapolis...Yun ang nakakalungkot, parati na lang pagdating sa akin isyu, yung pribado kong buhay."

Ramos and Abaya, however, have no record of serving in the US armed forces.

An interview on PEP earlier said Poe and Llamanzares first met during a tennis summer camp at the University of Life Theater and Recreation Arena (ULTRA), now known as the Philippine Sports Arena.

The two eventually went to the US to pursue their studies, with Poe finishing her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science degree in Boston College, Massachusetts.

Llamanzares, meanwhile, went to University of San Francisco but stopped schooling to enter the US Air Force.

The PEP interview revealed that Llamanzares stayed with the USAF for four years. It was during his last year in the Air Force that he proposed to Poe.

The two were married in 1991.

Happy Birthday to the best husband in the world, my dearest Neil :)

A photo posted by Grace Poe (@sengracepoe) on Mar 6, 2014 at 12:05am PST

Llamanzares revealed that Poe stayed with him at a US military base housing in Washington DC for about a year. It was there that their son, Brian, was born.

The family would stay mostly in Fairfax, Virginia until December 2004 when Poe's father, actor and presidential bet Fernando Poe Jr., died.

Poe has come under intense scrutiny after political rivals questioned if she complied with both citizenship and residency requirements for the presidency.

Last March 20, Vice President Jejomar Binay openly accused Senator Poe of not being a Filipino after she took an oath to become an American citizen.

READ: Binay attacks Poe: 'Hindi ka tunay na Pilipino'

"Lagi mong sinasabi na ikaw ay tunay na Pilipino. Paano ka magiging tunay na Pilipino e sumampa ka para maging Amerikano... Ikinakahiya mo ang pinanggalingan mo," he said during a TV debate.

"Basta ikaw, hindi ka tunay na Pilipino kasi ikinahiya. When you took your oath of allegiance for you to be naturalized as a citizen, [you said], 'I abjure ikinahihiya ko ang pinanggalingan."

For her part, Poe said there are 10 million overseas Filipinos who dream of coming back to the country but seek to go abroad to get higher-paying jobs.

"Mayor Binay, hindi lang po sa kulay yan. Nasa pagmamahal. Nandito ka nga sa bansa pero nangulimbat ka naman ng pera," she told Binay.

READ: Binay, Poe trade barbs over corruption, citizenship issues

Last March 8, the Supreme Court ruled that Poe is eligible to run for president, reversing a decision by the Commission on Elections to cancel her certificate of candidacy.