MANILA, 27 November 2003 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday refused to comment on the decision of the immensely popular action movie star Fernando Poe Jr. to challenge her in next year’s presidential election.
“I don’t talk politics,” President Arroyo told reporters as Poe, after weeks of hemming and hawing, finally declared yesterday that he was definitely contesting the presidency.
But the president’s aides and allies went on the offensive, saying Poe, popularly known as FPJ or “Da King,” was not unbeatable as some analysts are saying.
House of Representatives Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said Poe’s candidacy could augur well for Arroyo’s bid for a full six-year term because the opposition vote would be split into three.
“There are three in the opposition - Poe, Senator Panfilo Lacson and Raul Roco,” de Venecia said. The administration “has only one candidate - President Gloria Arroyo.”
House Deputy Speaker Raul Gonzales called Poe “incompetent.”
When asked about Poe’s chances of winning in the polls, he said: “If all Filipinos are stupid, he might win.”
The president’s chief of staff, Rigoberto Tiglao, said: “All polls show Poe is far from having Erap’s (Joseph Estrada’s) electoral strength in 1998. Erap’s strength came not only from his screen popularity but his political career of over 30 years.”
Lucky Day
Poe timed his awaited announcement yesterday on the eve of his late father’s birthday.
Flanked by his actress wife Susan Roces and Sen. Vicente Sotto III, one of his staunchest supporters, Poe said: “In the life of a person, the day will come when he has to face the toughest decision of his life, and that day for me has come.”
“Since last year, when I went around the Philippines and saw what the people need, I saw the clamor, I could not turn my back on them,” said the 64-year-old action movie star in Filipino.
Business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, meanwhile, ended speculation about his political plans, declaring he would not seek the presidency in elections next May.
“I am not,” Cojuangco told reporters at a private party on Tuesday night when asked if he would stand. “We will just leave it to others.”
Cojuangco, 68-year-old chairman of the San Miguel Corp., one of the biggest Philippine corporations, said he had not decided whom to support in the election.
Lacson to Fight On
Poe’s announcement placed into the open a wide rift within the opposition camp allied with former President Joseph Estrada, who is under detention on charges of plunder.
Poe and Senator Lacson were expected to square off in a convention under the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) to select a standard bearer.
But minutes after Poe made his announcement, Lacson called a press conference and said he was disappointed that Poe did not mention any plan of submitting himself to a selection process under the LDP.
Even then, Lacson said, he was not backing down and was determined to run for president as standard bearer of the LDP.
He said he will file his certificate of candidacy on Dec. 15, the first day for filing such with the Commission on Elections.
“I am determined to run for the presidency and no one can stop us now since we have long prepared for this. In fairness to my loyal supporters and to myself, it’s a go and there’s no turning back,” he said.
He also said he was no longer confident with the so-called selection process in the LDP since Sen. Edgardo Angara, who chairs the party, appears to be bent on making Poe the standard bearer without the benefit of a “fair, correct, just and honest selection process.”
“I have always said that I am willing to undergo a selection process that is fair, correct, just and honest and if I am not chosen, I will accept it. But if the selection of the standard bearer is done in a dictatorial manner, then I will not respect it,” Lacson said.
Glad Roco
On the other hand, presidential aspirant Raul Roco said he was happy with Poe’s decision because he would stand to benefit from it because it would divide the opposition.
“In a democracy it’s good to have many choices,” Roco said.
“But in reality, he’ll cannibalize Lacson’s votes and he’ll also be taking away votes from GMA (Arroyo),” said the former senator and education secretary who ranks high in presidential surveys.
Roco also believes that President Arroyo was bound to lose votes from the “masa” (masses) or class E sector in favor of Poe.
He said he was confident that he was leading in the A, B, C and D economic classes as well as among the youth.
When asked what he thought of criticisms about Poe’s lack of qualifications and experience, Roco said it was up to the actor to defend himself.
Business Community
Some businessmen and analysts yesterday cringed at the prospect that the country might again be ruled for the second time in six years by someone whose only claim to the nation’s top job is his popularity as a movie star.
While others said they would wait and see what Poe had to offer the nation, Moody’s Investors Service said it might downgrade its credit ratings for the Philippines on concerns that rising political risk ahead of elections next year would worsen the fragile economy.
Many businessmen are unnerved by the possibility that highly popular Poe could win in the 2004 presidential election despite his lack of political and economic experience. They also question how a movie actor and high school dropout could inspire an economy hobbled by a massive budget deficit and a battered currency.
Investors have also expressed concern over Poe’s close ties to Joseph Estrada, another movie actor whose presidency collapsed under the weight of corruption allegations in 2001.
Vic Abola, an economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific, said he was hoping Poe would not win.
“We’re back to the issues of Erap (Erstrada),” he said. “It’s just the same. He (Poe) may be an honest person but that doesn’t mean he won’t make a mess of the economy. I don’t think he’s going to be good for the economy.”
Former socioeconomic planning Secretary Cielito Habito, who heads the Ateneo de Manila University’s Center for Economic Research and Development, said the financial markets would react negatively in the short term because of the general perception that Poe had strong chances of winning.
“Because he has no experience in governance, some think he may be detrimental to the country’s long-term economic program,” Habito said. (Additional input from Inquirer News Service & Agence France Presse)
