Batanes Rep. Florencio Abad yesterday belittled the chances of movie actor Fernando Poe Jr., popularly known as FPJ, of winning if he decides to run for president in 2004.
Abad said at the weekly Balitaan sa Hotel Rembrandt forum in Quezon City that Poe lacks the necessary skills and experience to run the country.
Abad said the opposition would be committing a political blunder if it decides to make Poe their standard-bearer because the people already learned their lesson with former President Joseph Estrada, Poe’s close friend and fellow movie actor.
"FPJ would lack the necessary skills and qualifications to run the country," Abad said, "President Arroyo would definitely beat him in the (2004) polls."
Abad added that Estrada, for all his political experience as San Juan town mayor, senator and vice president, failed to perform his job well when elected to the highest office in the land. With this in mind, Abad said Poe’s chances of making a good president, let alone being elected to the nation’s top post, were slim as the actor’s only qualification is the name recall generated by his popularity.
After having been shelved for several months, the possibility of Poe seeking the presidency was resurrected after Estrada said he would back Poe’s presidential campaign, should it come to that.
The opposition’s possible fielding of Poe as its presidential candidate again hit the headlines after Poe celebrated his birthday earlier this week at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) where Estrada is detained on plunder charges.
Although Poe’s family denies there is any plan to field Poe as the opposition’s standard-bearer, rumors of such a scenario refuse to die.
Abad, who is president of the Liberal Party (LP), said that besides Poe, there are no other serious contenders who can beat President Arroyo in the 2004 elections: "It’s hard to speculate, but, as far as I am concerned, as of this time I can say that there is no serious opponent in the opposition who can beat (Mrs. Arroyo)."
The Batanes congressman also downplayed the adverse effects on the People Power Coalition (PPC), that supports the President, of the resignations of former Education Secretary Raul Roco and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona.
Abad said the PPC, a coalition of various political parties and advocacy groups, remains strongly supportive of Mrs. Arroyo.