Is the INC switching back to FPJ, or will it stay with GMA?

Gotcha.

I got your attention with the above headline. But the hot rumor which went around last night "from top sources" that the Iglesia ni Cristo might announce it is backing up Fernando Poe Jr., not GMA.

Well, we will all soon know, won’t we? So it’s no use agonizing over who or what.

The tsismis went that the INC hierarchy (Ka Erdie?) was "offended" by the premature reports which appeared in the newspapers kuno that the Iglesia was supporting GMA/Noli de Castro, when, indeed, the INC had not yet made its announcement. (Malacañang was being blamed for fielding those "premature" news items.)

As for me, I don’t give a hoot: Let both GMA and FPJ fidget, if they must, over that Iglesia ni Cristo announcement. Sure, either way it’s a psychological boost for the candidates "endorsed". The fact is that the INC numerical vote-count is minuscule, in comparison to the sum total of our 42.8 million registered voters.

However, just as the INC chose Erap last time, that sect has the knack of selecting the winners.

If you ask me, some members of the INC have only themselves to blame for the so-called premature disclosure.

Last Tuesday, a sample ballot was distributed in many Iglesia churches in Pangasinan which said: President "Arroyo"; Vice President "De Castro". The Senators listed, according to this sample ballot (whether true or false) WERE Enrile, Bong Revilla, Roxas, Madrigal, Estrada, Santiago, Lim, Pimentel, Barbers, Biazon, Osmeña, Maceda.

Where premature publication is concerned, I noticed only two newspapers run with the story categorically. The reason I spotted the first one was because I happened to be in a friend’s office (next to our own People Asia STARGATE office in Makati) when it was delivered. The banner headline of The Daily Sun proclaimed: "IGLESIA’S CHOICE". The first sentence of the accompanying article declared, "It’s official". Then the newspaper had reproduced what was purported to be the "Sample Ballot", May 10, 2004.

The other daily which ran the "scoop" was The Manila Times, which asserted, "GMA, NOLI TOP IGLESIA BALLOT". Since the newspaper has as its "Executive Vice President" (and owner), Dante Francis M. Ang II, its connection is definitely traceable to GMA.

If Ka Erdie and the INC choose to deny it, then let them do so. GMA or FPJ?

I remember when I was a student, a century ago it seems, all the Iglesia ni Cristo chapels were only made of clapboard and corrugated iron – just humble little places of worship. Now they have soaring, impressive, Disneyland-type cathedrals and churches all over the Philippine landscape, and ministries in all the foreign countries in which Filipinos live and work.

Perhaps it’s carrying God’s message (including on their radio and TV network) which makes the INC influential and rich. Perhaps part of the Iglesia’s success and obvious wealth is due to the fact that its bishops manage to pick the "winning" candidates, from the local to the national level.

* * *

That murder most foul in Boracay, our most-touted and world-renowned "Paradise Island", has wrought almost as much harm to our economy and our international reputation as the bloodthirsty Abu Sayyaf kidnappings. If the Bali bombings devastated Indonesia’s tourism, not to mention its image internationally, the "massacre" of a foreign resident and his two foreign guests, and their Filipino maid, has destroyed not only Boracay as a tourism destination, but our efforts to tell the world that the Philippines is a safe place for investment.

The victims were not just anybody, to begin with.

The homeowner – of the three-storey mansion he had ironically called La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life) – was a prominent German property developer, Anton Faustenhauser, who had planned to make Boracay a resort cum investment haven for Europeans – along with his famous guest (also brutally knifed to death), Swiss-born Manfred Schoeni, who not only owns two well-known art galleries in Hong Kong but large vineyards in South Africa.

The third foreign victim was John Cowperthwaits, a British architect, based reportedly in Hong Kong. The maid, Emma Sarmiento, was found murdered in her room on the ground floor – she had just been an unfortunate witness to be silenced by the attackers.

What is deplorable is that Schoeni and a group of German and other European partners had been planning to make Boracay the headquarters of a European "resident" community they hoped to create. Under their blueprint, their consortium was to attract well-heeled Europeans to buy homes and properties they planned to build and develop, and "invest" heavily in the Philippines while in the process of establishing themselves.

Indeed, Schoeni had been in the process of constructing a villa next door to Faustenhauser.

As for the other victim, Mr. Cowperthwait, possibly he belonged to their group – as a friend and an architect. He had just arrived from Hong Kong, which is on "golden week" holiday.

I’m told by Schoeni’s foreign friends that there had been ongoing negotiations to purchase a large beachfront in Boracay from a big real-estate consortium with extensive properties there. Now, that’s a deal which is dead. Literally.

* * *

The pity of it is that Boracay is our only world-famous tourist destination for foreigners (with due apologies to our terrific Banawe rice terraces, a UNESCO heritage site). Now, its notoriety and lack of "security" have become equally world-famous. If some 85,000 foreign tourists visit Boracay annually for fun and frolic, you can expect that figure to drop drastically. Many Westerners, as a matter of fact, are among the 12,400 or so residents of Boracay. I guess we can expect that many of them will be leaving – taking, of course, their money with them.

It’s at times like this that people begin taking a second look at Independent (LDP) presidential candidate Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson and his Supercop kamay na bakal approach. People yesterday were saying that the former PNP top general Lacson would have solved that gruesome crime in one day, and nailed the hides of the vicious knife-wielding murderers to the wall.

Our shame has, of course, gone around the globe. CNN immediately carried the story. The International Herald Tribune prominently ran the Reuters wire agency story under the title: Boracay Philippines: 3 Foreigners Killed on Popular Tourist Isle. (Alas, Paradise lost!)

The article said that "police were questioning 25 construction workers as possible suspects" according to Regional Police Chief George Alino. The piece added: "Several countries warn their citizens against travel to the Philippines, whose tourism industry has suffered from crime as well as insurgencies by Muslim and communist rebels."

Gee whiz. That’s not good publicity.

I think that the President and our legislators must take swift action – politics aside – to reverse the ugly situation in Boracay. I propose that Boracay be declared a "national heritage" site and a National Park, so it can be run and duly protected by the national government. It’s in truth a "national treasure" which has been deteriorating so fast that it will become, instead, our Eden Lost (to borrow that phrase from Jose Rizal).

To begin with, over the years, Boracay became – on its underside – a mecca for drug addicts, with shabu and other drugs being smuggled into that island so easily by boat.

It was a haven for backpackers, with all the "stuff" they used to bring in with them to finance their lives as beach-bums, and their own addiction. Then there has been an influx of hordes of construction workers from the "mainland" and surrounding islands, none of whom seem to be properly vetted, or their backgrounds checked (with regard to police records, or past infractions). Further, there’s a dismal lack of "zoning", with dive shops, discos, bars, residences, and other enterprises side-by-side, willy nilly. The sewage overflows, etc.

It’s time our government took steps to "save" Boracay. It definitely needs saving.

And get those killers! By golly, they ought to be strung up from the nearest coconut tree.

* * *

TIME Magazine (May 10 issue) has put FPJ and GMA on its cover, over the huge title: SHOWDOWN.

The front cover subtitle reads: Will the Philippines Stick with President Arroyo or Take a Leap of Faith with Fernando Poe?

Veteran correspondent and old Manila hand Anthony Spaethe, naturally, wrote the cover story. The one on GMA was headlined: Is She the One?

The subhead posed the query:

"Will Filipinos vote for their brainy but aloof President – or anoint a popular movie star who offers nothing less than salvation?"

Let’s start, though, with what TIME says of Poe. GMA’s "chief rival", the magazine says, "is Fernando Poe Jr., a half-American action star in Philippine films who’s performing from his own script. In the movies, Poe often portrays the strong-silent type, and that’s his campaign strategy, too. Poe doesn’t pretend to have experience with health insurance, foreign affairs, Muslim rebels – although he played a police officer from the southern Philippines in Muslim Magnum .357 – or building provincial roads. He refuses to hold press conferences, give interviews, or otherwise describe what a Poe presidency might be like. His stump speeches could be transcribed on one side of a Popsicle stick.

"But on campaign sorties, Poe stands on the back of a pick-up truck bestowing a gracious, grateful smile on frenzied crowds, and people throw themselves on the road to halt his truck, to possibly touch his hand. Poe’s admirers would probably give candy to him if they could afford it, which they can’t – he draws support mostly from the poorest of the Philippine poor."

I haven’t met my old friend Tony Spaeth for years, since he’s based abroad and comes and goes like wham-bam, but apparently he hasn’t lost his eye for the jugular. That observation of Spaeth’s that FPJ believes he draws support from the "poorest of the poor" may be the key to why Panday shuns media – since the poor don’t read. On the other hand, he should have been more solicitous over what television and radio say, since the poor both listen to the radio, and, where they can access it, watch TV.

I offered FPJ a "return show" on Impact 2004 for the past three weeks running, but he said he couldn’t make any of them – so, don’t say I didn’t ask. With the elections upon us, that window is definitely shut as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, I’ve interviewed all the Presidential candidates – and next week, I’ve got a promise from GMA that she’ll appear on my final pre-election TV program.

As for GMA, the TIME article carries a fascinatingly perceptive paragraph: "Arroyo sternly scans the road ahead, but then humans come into view – the local loafer, shopkeepers, bare-chested kids on bicycles – and the smile flicks on, the hand waves. When the potential voters disappear, the presidential pout returns."

That Tony! It’s unsafe to let him travel with you and observe ever minute detail of what you do.

In any event, I won’t quote anything more from that interesting TIME blockbuster. If you’re curious, just let me say that you’ve got to read it in its entirety. It’s well, rip-roaring, including that sidebar about the incarcerated Erap, entitled: His Excellency, the Jailbird, datelined Camp Capinpin.

In conclusion, Spaeth writes: The Philippines has gone through a lot of would-be-savior-Presidents. Marcos in his heyday. Aquino in hers. Arroyo after EDSA II. Next week’s election shows the Filipinos are still waiting for a real thing."

A nation in waiting. George Bernard Shaw once remarked that there are two evils in life. The first is not to get what you want. The second is to get what you want. Which is worse? Abangan.