MANILA, 13 December 2003 — It may have helped sweep Arnold Schwarzenegger to office. And it was undeniably a factor in bringing her own predecessor a huge victory at the polls.
But President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday Filipinos are now too wise to vote her out of office just because her opponent is an action movie star.
“Personality is obviously a factor,” she told a small group of journalists in Tokyo yesterday after the closing of the two-day Japan-ASEAN summit. “But at the end of the day, they want more than personality.”
Arroyo was referring to action film star Fernando Poe Jr., who announced last month he will run for president in next May’s election.
Arroyo came to power in January 2001 when Joseph Estrada, also a movie star, was forced out by massive protests over alleged corruption.
Estrada scored the biggest margin of victory in the country’s history when he was elected, but he won’t be in the running in May. He is now being detained on charges of graft.
Poe is a five-time winner in the local version of the Oscars. Despite his popularity, he had ranked poorly in early opinion polls but jumped to the lead in the most recent one. His strength is the same as Estrada’s — the urban poor — but businessmen and others worry about his lack of experience, and fear a repeat of Estrada’s turbulent tenure.
“I believe the voters have great wisdom, and will focus on experience and accomplishments over personality,” Arroyo said.
Poe’s Capability
Former President Fidel V. Ramos also urged those pushing for Poe as president to re-examine their stand. Ramos said he doubted Poe’s ability to unite the nation.
The obvious reason, he said, is that Poe cannot even unite the main opposition party Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP).
“He (Poe) cannot even unite the LDP. He cannot unite two people in the LDP who cannot get their act together,” Ramos quipped, referring to LDP Secretary-General Agapito “Butz” Aquino and LDP President Edgardo Angara.
Poe and Lacson have been endorsed by different factions in the LDP.
Ramos also repeated his earlier statement that the country “deserved someone better” than Poe as president.
Ramos also said the support by some businessmen for the candidacy of Sen. Noli de Castro, who they perceive as the only candidate capable of beating Poe in next year’s elections, would be advantageous to the administration Lakas-Christian-Muslim-Democrat party and its standard-bearer, President Arroyo.
“Then it will be one Lakas candidate versus an opposition split four ways. I will not explain any more the numerical advantage there,” Ramos said, with a smile.
He also explained that recent surveys showing Arroyo trailing Poe and Roco would not have a big effect on public opinion. Ramos explained that present surveys were mere “snapshots” of the political climate.
“What we should watch out (for) are trends, not surveys,” Ramos said.
Poe Meets Peasant Group
In a surprise move yesterday, Poe accepted an invitation by militant farmers and fisherfolk to a forum on globalization in the University of the Philippines Diliman campus in Quezon City.
Poe, however, came too early and left before the forum started.
The organizers, who had been expecting only Poe spokesman Sen. Vicente Sotto III, ended up being charmed by the movie actor, whose real name is Ronald Allan Poe. They even gave him a new nickname: Ka Ronnie (Comrade Ronnie).
In the impromptu half-hour meeting with the militant leaders, Poe also gave a glimpse of what could be his first known political position — an adverse stance against globalization and trade liberalization that gave the groups something to look forward to.
“I heard him tell Ka Paeng (Rafael Mariano, the chair of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas) that with regard to agriculture, the country should not participate in trade liberalization until it is prepared to compete,” Sotto said.
Mariano confirmed what Sotto told the Inquirer, adding that the opposition candidate gave “strong signals” that he was against the march to liberalization of the agricultural sector unless enough measures are taken to enable to compete respectably.
“Yes, he told us of that position against globalization and trade liberalization when we told him about the need to make agriculture the foundation of our country’s economy,” Mariano said in an interview.
The election-related forum was organized by the KMP, the fisherfolk group Pamalakaya, and the labor group Anakpawis.
The exchange between Poe and the militant leaders happened before the forum started, when Poe arrived at 8:45 a.m., or 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the forum.
He, Mariano, Sotto and KMP secretary-general Danilo Ramos met at the PCED Hostel coffee shop for around half an hour until news photographers arrived to take shots of Poe’s informal conference with the militant peasant leaders.
Poe then excused himself and told organizers he had another appointment at 9:30 a.m., leaving Sotto to address the electoral forum.
“We just had an exchange of ideas with Ka Paeng and his other leaders,” Poe told the Inquirer as he wove his way through the phalanx of photographers on the way to his waiting SUV.
“Senator Sotto would be the one to discuss these issues at length,” he added rather apologetically for his seemingly sudden decision to leave.
Mariano said that while Poe gave “strong signals” that he was against the country’s participation in the World Trade Organization and its commitments under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, they are still waiting for a more concrete manifestation from the candidate when the campaign period starts.
“We have yet to see his platform of government. It will be up to him if he would include the inputs that we gave him about the plight of farmers in light of globalization,” Mariano said.
Mariano said another presidential candidate, ex-senator Raul Roco, sent word that he could not come and instead sent a copy of his platform of government, showing that he was for honoring the country’s agreements with the international community on the issue of globalization.
As for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Mariano said: “We didn’t invite her because we already know that she is against the interests of the small farmers and fisherfolk.”
(Input from AP and Inquirer News Service)
