FPJ staying away from own nomination today, says Sotto

Opposition leaders are set to formally announce today their nomination of movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. as their candidate for president in the May 2004 elections.

The king of Philippine movies, however, will not attend his nomination to be held this morning at a Makati hotel.

"I don’t think he is attending," Sen. Vicente Sotto III, Poe’s unofficial spokesman, told reporters yesterday. He had no explanation on why Poe is staying away from the ceremonies declaring him as the standard bearer of the "united" opposition.

At a news forum yesterday, Poe expressed sadness over the disunity in the ranks of the opposition and the raging bitter quarrel among leaders of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP).

Former Negros Oriental congressman Miguel Romero, who claimed he was speaking for the fractious LDP and its president, Sen. Edgardo Angara, said in a news conference the announcement of Poe’s nomination will be made by the newly formed Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP).

The coalition is composed of the LDP, ousted president Joseph Estrada’s Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino and the PDP-Laban, which is led by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

But like Poe, Angara and Pimentel won’t be attending the announcement of Poe’s nomination. Angara is in Mexico City attending a United Nations conference on corruption, while Pimentel is in Bangkok, Thailand for a speaking engagement.

Romero said Sotto will represent Angara in the ceremonies, while Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay or his representative will stand for Pimentel.

He said Estrada’s PMP will be represented by its president, Horacio Morales, who was Estrada’s agrarian reform secretary.

Romero said as of yesterday, he has no word on whether Poe is attending the ceremonies.

"I think it’s because he has not formally accepted the nomination. We want an acceptance in writing," he added.

Asked about the planned one-on-one meeting between Poe and his opposition presidential rival, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Romero said "that can take place even with the announcement of Mr. Poe’s nomination."

However, he said the movie actor’s presidential candidacy under the KNP banner "is non-negotiable."

Reacting to the projected nomination of Poe, Lito Banayo, Lacson’s spokesman, said if the movie actor accepts the nomination, "there is no more point in having Senator Lacson and FPJ meet."

"What is there to talk about? There’s no more point in meeting. We will go our separate ways," Banayo said.

He said by nominating the movie actor as the standard- bearer of the LDP, PMP, PDP-Laban, and other opposition groups, "they have excluded Senator Lacson from the selection process."

"Senator Lacson was nominated by his LDP and PMP supporters. He should have been included in the selection process, together with other presidential aspirants from the opposition," he added.

Angara and former senator Juan Ponce Enrile, who supposedly heads a selection committee, have excluded Lacson from the nomination process after his supporters declared him as their standard-bearer last Thursday.

Poe’s rival was nominated by more than a thousand LDP and PMP leaders and local officials supporting him. The LDP leaders were headed by Makati Rep. Agapito Aquino, the party’s secretary-general, and Minority Leader Carlos Padilla, who heads the LDP bloc in the House of Representatives.