Roco casts doubts on rivals’ qualifications

Saying he is the best choice for president, Alyansa ng Pag-asa standard-bearer Raul Roco described President Arroyo as a "bad experience," actor Fernando Poe Jr. as someone with "no experience" while Sen. Panfilo Lacson has "limited experience."

Roco, during an interview on the television show "Debate" aired over GMA-7 Thursday night, said Mrs. Arroyo is a "bad experience" the country can ill afford to have for the next six years.

Poe, on the other hand, is a movie icon with "no experience" in either politics or governance, according to Roco.

He also claimed that Lacson is only good when it comes to police matters, since he was a former Philippine National Police chief.

Roco refused to speak against evangelist Eduardo Villanueva, whom he described as "my friend."

During the show, Roco was grilled by panelists STAR reporter Marichu Villanueva and GMA-7 reporter Maki Pulido about his alleged hot-headedness.

Speaking in Filipino, Roco neither confirmed nor denied these reported incidents, but instead blamed the political situation in the country for his displays of temper.

"If you will look at the country’s problems, you’ll really become hot-headed. The experienced administration cannot solve the problems. And the possible replacement lacks the experience. Why shouldn’t you become hot-headed?" he said, referring to Mrs. Arroyo and Poe, respectively.

But when asked about his campaign expenditures for the May presidential election, Roco could not help showing a bit of his infamous temper.

"All the questions you are asking focus on trivial issues. What are important are the country’s problems. The people want to know how we are going to address poverty, unemployment, and farming. You focus on expenditure," he said.

Roco maintained that he would not spend more than P200 million for the May 10 polls.

"My daily operational expenses will not exceed P500,000. This means that during the 90-day campaign period, I will be spending only around P45 million," he said.

Roco added that even his "most envied" music television video (MTV) commercial was done on a limited budget. He said they spent only P300,000 to produce the two-minute commercial, and that some of the artists who performed in it rendered their services for free.

The MTV features singers Isay Alvarez, Robert Sena and Carla Martinez and focuses on a "new Philippines" theme.

"It will not be shown often but we got good placement. There would be no problem on the allotted time for advertisement. And since we are nine in the ticket, that means we have 12 seconds each," Roco said.

The STAR’s Villanueva said that before the show started, the audience teased Roco because the coffee served to him was in a mug with the network’s GMA logo.

One in the crowd suggested that Roco have the mug changed because that it might appear that he was endorsing the candidacy of Mrs. Arroyo, who has the same initials.

Roco, in jest, asked for another cup of coffee. A similar mug was served so he had to turn the GMA logo away from the camera when the show started.