FPJ invades Arroyo hometown

LUBAO, Pampanga (AFP) — Movie star and presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. was mobbed by large crowds yesterday as his showbiz-fueled election bandwagon rolled into President Arroyo’s hometown.

Thousands of people lined the highways and clambered onto rooftops in sweltering conditions for a glimpse of their celluloid hero accompanied by his senatorial candidates and local movie heartthrob Richard Gomez.

The 64-year-old Poe, wearing a yellow vest jacket, waved back from the back of a flatbed truck that led a huge motorcade across Pampanga, a vote-rich province.

As the convoy rolled into Lubao, the President’s hometown, light rain fell and an old woman who was carrying an Arroyo campaign poster taunted Poe, while a few other residents gave him a thumbs-down show of disapproval.

In Barangay San Antonio in Guagua, elderly women went out of their homes to hold aloft calendars with a big close-up photo of Mrs. Arroyo, as signs that Capampangans are loyal to the incumbent became evident.

But the token resistance was drowned out by welcoming cheers.

The action star, widely regarded as a Filipino John Wayne, dismounted at Lubao’s crowded wet market, festooned with "Gloria for Filipinos" banners.

About 50 Arroyo supporters chanted the President’s initials, "GMA," and displayed thumbs-down hand signals. But fishmongers, housewives and children mobbed Poe and planted kisses on his cheeks.

"The welcome was fabulous," Poe told reporters. "I think I may score an upset win here."

He was magnanimous about the scattered hecklers. "It’s a democratic country," he said. "They should vote for the person they believe in."

Sen. Vicente Sotto surmised that the Arroyo supporters might have been paid. "Binayaran yang mga yan. Ang sabi sa akin P500 daw ang bayad nila (I heard they were paid P500 each)," he said.

The arms of Poe and vice presidential candidate Loren Legarda, a prominent broadcaster and senator, were red with welts as hundreds of people grabbed at them just to get a brief handshake.

"It touches the heart because we did not think there would be this many meeting us," said Poe, better known by his acronym, "FPJ."

The motorcade of dozens of vehicles snarled traffic for kilometers but drivers of buses and private cars cheerfully honked their horns for Poe and flashed his signature gesture, a raised index finger indicating the number one.

One man in a government vehicle gave the FPJ gesture, saying he wasn’t afraid to show his sentiment, "even if I get fired."

At one bridge, a billboard heralding Mrs. Arroyo’s infrastructure projects declared "GMA cares" but the children and women standing in front of the sign were oblivious to this as they chanted "FPJ, FPJ."

Farmer Tiburcio Mendoza, 68 of Barangay Magliman in San Fernando, said he would vote for Poe because the actor had always been his "idol."

Senatorial candidate Jinggoy Estrada was absent from the motorcade on MacArthur Highway, which snaked through San Fernando, Guagua, Lubao, in the morning and Mabalacat and Angeles City in the afternoon.

After a movie career of 50 years playing soft-spoken heroes who shoot and punch villains into submission, Poe remains hugely popular in this country.

Surveys show he is the frontrunner, ahead of Mrs. Arroyo, in the race for the May 10 presidential contest despite little formal education and zero experience in public service.

But his inexperience and his reluctance to lay out his economic platform has worried the business community, causing the local peso and the stock market to tumble sharply in recent weeks.

The fear is that a Poe presidency would be similar to the disastrous administration of another top movie star, Joseph Estrada, who was elected in 1998 but was ousted from office by a military-backed popular uprising in 2001 over a massive corruption scandal.

Estrada, now in detention while facing graft charges, played a crucial role in getting his close friend, Poe, to run and many of Estrada’s old backers are now aligned with Poe.

Poe said he would ensure a fair trial for his bosom buddy. "All he wants is a fair trial, and nothing more," the candidate said, at the same time declining to comment if we would win in the province like Estrada did in 1998.

But Poe endeared himself to the Capampangans by recalling how he made his first movie here, entitled "Anak Palaris," shot in Mexico.

Other movie stars who joined the Poe blitz in Pampanga were former movie stars, brothers Ramil and Pepito Rodriguez, who were both popular in the 1960s. — With Ding Cervantes, Rick Sapnu