FPJ is heaven-sent with urgent message

HEAVEN-SENT: Some optimists may be willing to clutch the straw that perhaps the candidacy of Fernando Poe Jr. is heaven-sent.

The actor’s running for the highest post in the land could just be the answer to our prayer for someone to come along, not necessarily on a white horse, and jolt this country back to its senses.

Seeing another character from tinseltown poised to snatch the presidency after another actor before him nearly drove the nation over the cliff may just prove too much for people groping for deliverance from misgovernment.

The specter of double jeopardy in the presidency is scaring citizens from their complacency.

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PROXY WAR: We have seen signs among citizens who previously did not show any interest in elections now checking the validation of their registration and talking about not committing the same mistake twice.

The middle class, for one, appears agitated over the prospects of Da King triumphantly gliding across the finish line in May 2004 without effort. Many are not just preparing to vote; they are campaigning against Poe.

The scenario before us is not as simple as one man being moved by pure desire to help his country by responding to a clamor for him to be its president. It’s not him alone. It’s them!

Poe is actually fighting a proxy war. Even his most ardent supporters boast that when (not if) their idol is installed in Malacañang, he won’t be running state affairs by his lonesome.

They make no bones about the novice president, more of a ceremonial figure than a hands-on head of government, being surrounded by advisers and runners who would make things happen for him. To many, that is the scary part.

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ANGARA’S AGENDA: In the same breath that they ask why Poe presumes to run despite his obvious lack of preparation, curious onlookers also ask why Sen. Edgardo Angara, of all people, is pushing the actor’s candidacy.

The senior senator’s agenda becomes understandable when viewed in the light of efforts to cast a "blockbuster" tandem of Poe taking the hand of popular broadcaster Sen. Loren Legarda as his vice president.

The victory of Poe and Legarda, a pretty sight for the shrieking fans, would be a personal double victory for Angara, and whoever else he has lurking in his shadow.

Angara must have realized from a series of political setbacks that, although he is eminently qualified, he himself cannot be president. So, if one cannot be king, why not try being kingmaker?

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WHAT ABOUT DA BOSS?: The kingmaker title used to be that of businessman Eduardo Cojuangco, chairman of San Miguel and moving spirit of many other businesses that drew sustenance from the multi-billion-peso coconut levy fund.

For a while, Cojuangco toyed with the idea of himself running for president. But after a series of legal setbacks that drew holes into his finances, many of his supposed supporters slinked away.

Abandoned by the parasites, Cojuangco’s following dwindled. The old line then suggested itself: If the Boss cannot be king himself, why not be kingmaker as he used to be?

This line has given rise to reports (rumors to some) that Cojuangco has transferred, or at least promised, a huge amount to Poe to bankroll his presidential campaign. (In fairness to the two gentlemen, no proof of any such transaction has been offered except whispered reports kuno of bank insiders.)

An interesting game now is to find the link between Angara and Cojuangco through their common denominator Poe.

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MARKET MYTH: The day after we said that naughty operators in the stock exchange may just play with the FPJ confirmation of his candidacy last Wednesday and make the stocks dive, they did!

Along the same line on the dropping of the exchange value of the peso, Dr. Benjamin Espiritu of La Salle said yesterday that "it is not accurate to place the blame of the drop of the peso squarely on the presidential bid of Fernando Poe Jr".

Espiritu, chairman of the Business and Governance Department of De La Salle University Professional Schools Inc. and Graduate School of Business, described as "simplistic and perhaps politically motivated" comments pinning on Poe the peso’s drop.

The peso-dollar exchange rate is a price, he said, and is determined like all prices by demand and supply.

"The demand for dollars comes from the dollar requirements of government, importers, corporations and individuals," he said. "The supply comes from dollar inflows, deposit earnings and remittances to the country. These are all economic, not political variables."

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CAR BAN HIT: Not being a lawyer, we sought validation of our stand that the selective ban of the Metro Manila Development Authority on vehicles based on their license plate numbers may not apply on vehicles on national roads.

The restriction (erroneously called color-coding ban) becomes a timely topic in view of the daily traffic jams on Metro Manila streets worsened by the pre-Christmas shopping buildup.

We hold that a local (MMDA) ordinance cannot be enforced on selected motor vehicles that are registered and licensed under a national law and traveling through a national road. The ban may apply on municipal streets, but not on national roads.

We asked Mel "Batas" Mauricio, who runs fast-paced free legal counseling programs on dzBB and Channel 7, and he agreed with us in principle.

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MAURICIO SAYS: Batas Mauricio said in an impromptu reply:

"Can the 14 cities and three towns comprising Metro Manila enact a law or ordinance governing the use of properties falling under the jurisdiction of the national government? More specifically, do they have the power to ban vehicles even over major thoroughfares, such as EDSA or Rizal Avenue, which are national (not city or municipal) roads?

"I think the proper answer is, it depends.

"Under the Constitution, while local governments enjoy autonomy or the freedom to do what they want over areas falling under their territorial jurisdiction, this autonomy does not include the right to legislate over the use of properties that are national in scope. Legislating over the use of these national properties pertains to the proper legislative bodies – which are the House of Representatives and the Senate.

"Although it may be conceded that the local government units, not only in Metro Manila but elsewhere in the country, have been granted the power to pass laws, this right is limited to properties that are considered local, in view of the limited powers of these local governments.

"If and when the laws or ordinances passed by local governments purport to cover even properties considered to be national in character, such as our major thoroughfares and highways, such local laws and ordinances must have the approval, expressly or impliedly, of the national legislative bodies.

"Then and only then can these local laws or ordinances be given effect over these national properties."

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