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Raissa Robles

The actor alienated supporters in a key province, giving Gloria Arroyo the edge

Actor Fernando Poe Jnr had banked on his action-hero status in the Philippines to win him the presidency.

But today,  as Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo takes the oath for the celebrity-obsessed nation's highest office,  Poe  may  be  rueing the arrogance that allowed her  campaign juggernaut to quash his supposed advantage in the May 10 election.

Mrs Arroyo's inauguration in Cebu for a second six-year term is a thank you to the province that  delivered her a winning edge of  more than a million votes.

With the outcome of the election still hotly disputed in some circles amid claims of vote-rigging and corruption,  Poe's opposition coalition claimed the result in Cebu was due to  cheating on a massive scale.

But as Clavel Martinez, a pro-Arroyo congresswoman from Cebu points out,  Poe put up only one candidate in Cebu for the island's five cities and 49 towns.

Volunteers said that, riding on his popularity as the action star 'FPJ', Poe  neglected his supporters.

A disgusted  mayoral candidate who tried to meet  him was told by henchmen that Poe was too busy. 'You need us more than we need you,' they said.

Poe's campaign ran into trouble in Cebu a week before the election. Eva Padernal, head of  the actor's volunteer group, the FPJ Progress Movement for the central Philippines, defected to Mrs Arroyo.

She took 200 local leaders with her and a promise to  sway the votes of 200,000 volunteers in the province.

'[Poe] ignored and took for granted the first and original grassroots volunteers in Panay [island]. Not even for a brief moment did he face us leaders and pat us on the back for a job well done,' she was quoted as saying.

As a result, Mrs Arroyo  was able to  win in a region where Poe was said to have a clear edge.

A day after the  presidential vote, more than 1,000 of  Poe's co-ordinators  in the southern  provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato walked off the job,  saying they had not been paid a promised 500 peso (HK$70) fee.

They refused to  monitor the count after Rodrigo Pabillon,  head of the FPJ Movement Taskforce, said: 'It's really up to them to render service because I made it clear before election day that they should not expect that money is coming.'

Poe has said  he was cheated in both provinces but, due to the walkout, has no evidence to back up the claim.

A clear victory  in northern provinces could have been sweeter  had Poe not failed to register the popular soubriquet 'Da King' with the Commission on Elections. The votes of electors who wrote the registered initials 'FPJ' on their ballot papers were counted. Votes for 'Da King' were not.

Poe also spent just 50 of the 90-day official campaign  on the road. He skipped provinces where  candidates were squabbling over his endorsement, avoided the media and quarrelled openly with reporters.

His campaign was also stymied by a lack of funds. He had little support from a business community fearful of his vague policies and inexperience in government.

For a candidate who boasted of being the only one who could lead the nation, Poe lacked political allies but thought this irrelevant.

His coalition fielded only 26 candidates for 212 congressional seats, eight for 79 provincial governor posts and 25 for 119 city mayoral positions.

Mrs Arroyo's coalition won 181 of 212 congressional seats, seven of 12 Senate posts, and 64 of 79 gubernatorial seats.

In the end, Mrs Arroyo, who criss-crossed Pangasinan province alone eight times, won by only a small  margin, but her tireless campaigning achieved a  landslide victory nationwide for her governing coalition.



Action hero Poe pays a high price for his arrogance