Kris Aquino accepts UNHCR offer to be honorary patron

Actress/TV host Kris Aquino, sister of President Benigno Aquino III, has accepted the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees’ (UNHCR) offer to be an “honorary patron," the first step to becoming an ambassador of goodwill. “Just finished UNHCR dinner. I accepted their appointment," Kris tweeted Tuesday night. She also said she is “in excellent company," noting that there are four honorary patrons and one goodwill ambassador in the world. Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador who started out as an honorary patron. “I’m honorary patron together with Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls, Khaled Hosseini, author of A Thousand Splendid Suns and Kite Runner, and Yao Chen from China, [a] super pretty actress and their Twitter queen with 13 million followers," Kris said. “Luol Deng, Khaled Hosseini and I share one thing in common. All of us have families who were granted political asylum and we benefited greatly from the experience of living in freedom," she added. She was referring to the time when her family was forced to flee the country in 1980 and live in the United States to escape the martial law of then-President Ferdinand Marcos. Her father, slain Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., was a staunch critic of the Marcos regime. Kris, the youngest in the Aquino siblings, said she is looking forward to doing good work with UNHCR in the next two years. — KBK, GMA News