MANILA, 27 February 2004 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday she will not join a public debate among presidential candidates if her main rival — reclusive film star Fernando Poe Jr. — doesn’t show up.

Asked at a news conference if she would appear in the April 13 debate if Poe shuns it, Arroyo said: “It is not worth it.”

Arroyo’s spokesman asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to compel Poe to join the April debate in fairness to the other candidates and the voters.

“We urge Comelec to exercise its moral suasion to convince Mr. Poe to appear and explain his platform of government on nationwide TV and on prime time,” presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

Arroyo’s camp apparently wants to capitalize on the political inexperience of Poe, a high school dropout, hoping he would fumble without a script. Poe has said he doesn’t plan to participate in the debate.

Bunye said President Arroyo herself “will have to beg off from any debate” should the Comelec fail to convince Poe.

While the president believes the public should be given a chance to know the candidates, a debate without “one of the principal contenders would not serve its purpose of giving the electorate an informed choice,” Bunye said.

The other candidates — former education secretary Raul Roco, ex-police chief Panfilo Lacson, television Christian evangelist Eduardo Villanueva and businessman Eddie Gil — have said they would join the debate.

Poe’s failure to present a concrete platform has scared businessmen, who see him as unqualified to run the presidency in a country where majority of its 82 million citizens live in poverty.

The financial markets have been volatile since he announced his candidacy, with the peso falling to historic lows.

Arroyo is banking on her experience as well as economic policies to get a second crack at the presidency, which she inherited in 2001 from deposed president Joseph Estrada, now in jail on corruption charges.

‘Man of Action’

Poe’s allies also warned that the April 13 debate sponsored by the Comelec and the Roman Catholic Church-run poll monitoring body Namfrel could be a “trap” to embarrass the political novice.

Poe rejected suggestions that he his refusal to debate was a sign that he was not prepared to lead the country. “It’s not that I’m not prepared,” Poe said in a TV interview aired yesterday.

“I’m really just short on words because I’m a man of action,” the Philippine Star, whose publisher, Maximo Soliven, conducted the rare TV interview, quoted him as saying.

Poe often played the underdog who triumphs over his adversaries — from Japanese World War II troops to street thugs.

Poe’s party mates in the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino came up with a slew of reasons why their standard-bearer need not join any presidential debate.

During the KNP’s sortie in Binondo, Manila, senatorial candidate Ernesto Maceda said a debate was unnecessary because the actor could be interviewed, anyway.

Noting the disbelieving looks on the reporter’s faces, Maceda added: “When he’s free. It’s a matter of timing.”

Another senatorial candidate, Amina Rasul, said a public debate would be useful only to “unknowns” like herself. “But if you are a Fernando Poe Jr. who is loved by the people ... what for?”

Actress Boots Anson-Roa, yet another “senatoriable,” defended her former leading man’s “quiet” ways. “That’s how he is. He doesn’t talk much, but that does not mean he has nothing to say.”

Former Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, who is also eyeing the Senate after losing the presidential race in 1998, insisted that oratorical prowess should not be a measure of a candidate’s worth. Speaking in Filipino, Lim needled Poe’s opponents: “They may be good debaters, but what have they done for the country? Nothing.”

FPJ’s running mate, Sen. Loren Legarda, would not be distracted: “Whether the debate pushes through or not, President Macapagal Arroyo is responsible for all the country’s woes.”

Making a Movie

But Juan Ponce Enrile outdid them all: “Fernando Poe Jr. may not be (skilled in) the art of debating, but I challenge all the (other) contenders for the presidency if they can direct a movie (as Poe has done several times).”

Steering a nation is like directing a movie, Enrile explained. “You must know what you’re intending to do, visualizing all the way to the end.”

“Poe’s handlers want our voters to choose their candidate on the basis of celluloid illusion, not on the basis of real competence and realistic positions in the burning issues of the day,” said Alex Magno, a political analyst associated with Arroyo.

“They are no different from peddlers of snake oil and other magical potions said to heal all complaints,” Magno wrote in the Philippine Star.

Foreign Observers

Meanwhile, US Charge d’Affaires Joseph Mussomeli said American monitors will join an international team that will observe the May 10 election in the Philippines.

An additional 40-50 American Embassy staffers will also work on their own to keep tabs on the polls, he said.

It was not clear how many monitors sent out from the United States would join the larger international group of observers. It was also not known whether these US monitors would come from government agencies or independent groups.

Presidential Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo said last week that the US-based National Democratic Institute has expressed interest in leading an international monitoring team. The institute promotes democratic institutions in other countries.

Mussomeli said the “whole world will be watching” the election because the country is still in a “very early stage” of democracy after the so-called the people power revolt, which led to the ouster of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

The May presidential elections will be the third since then. (Additional input from agencies)