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Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Fiesta mood signals start of campaign period
MANILA -- Six presidential candidates including a 56-year-old grandmother, the king of Philippine movies, an obscure businessman and a television evangelist kicked off their election campaigns Tuesday.
Showbiz personalities, motorcades, dragon dancers, and prayer rallies highlighted the start of the 90-day election period for national candidates.
About 17,000 posts at all levels of government are up for grabs in the May 10 elections with President Arroyo seeking a fresh term and other hopefuls running for the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Here's how the candidates started their respective campaign sorties.
Gloria Arroyo, 56
Arroyo hit the trail with a low-key launch to just over 1,000 people in the tiny hill town of Cavinti, Laguna.
She started her presidential campaign with a bang -- literally, after one of the loud speakers in the event fell while she was in Cavinti discussing the different benefits and programs implemented since she became president.
A US-trained economist, daughter of a former president and champion of open market reforms, Arroyo established herself as a hard worker after taking over in 2001 from Joseph Estrada, who was ousted after a popular uprising over a massive corruption scandal.
The five-foot-two, staunchly Catholic grandmother of one, reportedly started her day with a reading from the Bible and has a reputation for having a short fuse.
Arroyo also toured all over Laguna, home province of Estrada, bringing movie stars and lambasting the latter.
The stand on which the speaker was placed fell down while the President was discussing the "down-payments" she made in the last three years.
The discussion was light and included a few banters, which was enjoyed by the audience like when De Castro teased and laughed at Arroyo for saying "nakakalbong dagat" when what she meant was the diminishing sea resources.
Arroyo, De Castro and the senatorial candidates of the Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan (K4) except former senator Miriam Defensor Santiago attended a thanksgiving mass at the Transfiguration Parish celebrated by Rev. Fr. Rizaldo Punto before attending the pulong bayan.
From Cavinti, Arroyo made a whistle stop to Lusianna, in Nagcarlan, Rizal, San Pablo, Calauan, Bay and Los Baños where she was met by supporters of presidential aspirants Raul Roco, Panfilo Lacson and Fernando Poe Jr.
The President's convoy was met by supporters flashing the closed fist sign of Lacson, the "number one" sign of Poe and the "I love you" sign of Roco, mostly in Rizal, Calauan Bay, Los Baños and San Pablo where she even visited the San Pablo City Shopping Mall.
Arroyo's convoy accidentally met the convoy of Lacson's supporters in San Pablo, which included several biker-boys clad in black and several vehicles with Lacson's posters and supporters flashing the closed fist sign after learning that Arroyo was in the other lane.
In Mt. Makiling in Los Baños, even with the combined presence of the movie stars and the supporters of the candidates, the amphitheater was not filled up.
Eddie Gil, 59
Gil launched his proclamation rally in Cagayan de Oro City. He said the city is memorable to him. His sorties to other cities in Mindanao was cut short due to preparation problems.
Little is known about fringe candidate Gil, who describes himself as a businessman. He tried to run for the senate in 2001 but was disqualified as a "nuisance candidate."
To the amazement of many, electoral authorities did not disqualify him from running although they disqualified 79 other obscure figures, including a woman who claimed to be the fiancée of US President George W. Bush.
He is polling just 0.1 percent in national voter preference surveys.
Panfilo Lacson, 55
Former PNP chief Panfilo Lacson started his presidential campaign in his hometown in Cavite.
A convoy of about 500 cars, trucks and motorcycles assembled on the Diosdado Macapagal Ave. in a show of force for Lacson, Estrada's former police chief.
Supporters from the Chinese-Filipino community were visible in Lacson's sortie to Cavite with the presence of the dragon dancers even if the Chinese New Year already finished. This is reportedly to bring luck to the former police general.
Tagging along with him was his lone candidate for senator, House minority leader Carlos Padilla.
Gov. Ireneo "Ayong" Maliksi of Cavite is the main organizer of the rally to be held at the Imus town plaza.
In his proclamation rally, Lacson enjoined the public not to support K4 which he said stands for "Kahirapan, Katiwalian, Kurakot, Krimen."
The original K4 acronym stands for "Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan", which is the name of the administration coalition.
He also promised the public that once elected as president, he will weed the government of Pidals. The senator earlier accused First Gentleman Mike Arroyo as the owner of the Jose Pidal account, which accumulated unexplained millions.
He based his campaign on fighting "poverty, corruption, graft and crime," and drew on his record as police chief in the late 1990s curbing corrupt police officers and cracking down on the kidnappings that have dogged the business community.
Fernando Poe Jr., 64
Scantily-clad dancers, stuntmen acting as bodyguards and a comedian called Dolphy -- the B movie star tipped to become Philippine president was more showbiz than politics as he launched his bid for power.
Fernando Poe Jr., known by his initials FPJ or simply as "Da King", drew on his cinema past as campaigning began Tuesday for the May 10 elections, which opinion polls say he is likely to win.
Over 20,000 cheering fans packed into a sports stadium in Manila as the "Sex Bomb" dancers wearing tight-fitting clothes and sporting bare midriffs gyrated on stage to herald Poe's entrance.
Dry ice swirled around the stage and dozens of multi-colored spotlights danced over the set, which resembled a huge television production.
Security was tight, with bodyguards from Poe's production company pushing and shoving a path through the crowd as the candidate and his actor wife Susan Roces looked on.
Poe, who is dearly loved by many poor Filipinos for portraying action hero roles avenging the downtrodden, mounted the stage through a cloud of white smoke wearing blue jeans and an open-necked white shirt.
Stage directors, production staff and television crews with prompt cards hurled instructions to Poe's 12 senatorial candidates who waved and danced as they were ushered in to make supportive speeches.
Dolphy, a long-time friend of Poe considered the country's top comedian, called on Filipinos to vote for Poe because he was a man of integrity.
He added: "This is the first time that we would have a such a handsome president. I am beginning to turn gay."
For the first time, Poe talked bits of his platforms but no details. He also named some of his economic advisers who later denied committing to FPJ in a television interview.
Among those named were: former trade secretary Jose Pardo, former finance secretary Roberto de Ocampo, Dean Raul Fabella, Sen. Serge Osmena and Vice President Teofisto Guingona.
De Ocampo and Pardo in separate television interviews denied having committed themselves to any political groups.
Raul Roco, 63
Lone Ranger Roco, a former education secretary and senator is popular with youth and activist groups and has widely portrayed himself as the "alternative" candidate.
Roco attended a private morning mass at the home of Jaime Cardinal Sin, the outspoken retired cardinal of Manila who helped ease both Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada from power.
Roco said flowers and prayers are the best means to win people's hearts while prayer is the key to victory in the coming elections.
With no showbiz personalities on stage, Roco launched his first salvo in Mandaluyong City visiting the youth of Jose Rizal University in Mandaluyong.
He clarified during an ambush interview that his visit with the Cardinal was not to seek an endorsement, but to seek for spiritual guidance and blessings from the Lord.
"When you go to battle, all through out the history, you begin with prayers to the God. Ask for blessings, set you off on the correct path to the journey," Roco said.
Also in Mandaluyong, Roco together with his senatorial slate, entered a small public market then ate in a food court in one of the biggest malls in Manila.
He joined the other mall bystanders in eating his favorite food -- laing, dinuguan and ginataang langka.
His campaign for the day ended with a prayer vigil in Quezon City where he prayed for peace and order in the country.
Meanwhile, Roco admitted he was affected by the rumors that Sen. Noli de Castro would be dropped by K4 to give way to him as the vice president of President Arroyo.
But he denied such rumors and said that no one would stop him from running for the presidency.
On Wednesday, Roco will continue winning the hearts of the voters in his hometown in Naga, Bicol.
Eduardo 'Eddie' Villanueva, 58
Television evangelist and former Marxist student leader Villanueva had a silent day as the campaign period started on Tuesday.
The head of the "Jesus is Lord" Christian renewal movement claims seven million followers nationwide and runs a television channel that airs religious broadcasts and Villanueva's own sermons.
Villanueva, in a television interview, said he would launch his proclamation rally Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.
He is confident that his methodology of campaign is the most effective and economical compared to the old politics.
He said his campaign is not costly but has a substantial effect on the public.
Once believed to be a supporter of Arroyo, Villanueva's candidacy may cost the President some votes, but Villanueva himself has done poorly in the polls with just one percent of the vote.
He has compared his campaign to the biblical encounter between David and Goliath. Sunnex/JMR/JPM/AFP
(February 11, 2004 issue)
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