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The Vice Presidentiables

The next Philippine elections are seven months away yet surveys of presidentiables, declarations of candidacy (or non-candidacy) and slimy exchanges of accusations already bombard the public. Whether we like it or not, the election fever is intensifying and it is best to be prepared rather than be manipulated by unscrupulous media spins and political maneuvers. Thus, Election Watch will feature articles related to the political circus called elections. This week, we are posting brief sketches of the survey topnotchers.

After 25 years as radio broadcaster, Noli de Castro joined the Senate race in 2001 and emerged the topnotcher. Constant media exposure undeniably made De Castro a senator and it is the same asset that would probably make him a vice-presidential – or even a presidential – contender. Not much is known however about the popular broadcaster as a person and the image that he built as “Mr. Clean” has even been besmirched by allegations of receiving bribe and – coming from a fellow broadcaster and fellow senator, Loren Legarda – of having the brain of a crab (“utak-talangka”).

Noli de Castro, Jr. is undeniably one of the main figures in Philippine media. He has earned his popularity from hosting ABS-CBN mainstay programs "TV Patrol" and "Magandang Gabi…Bayan."

His name-recall advantage and popularity earned for him a seat in the May 2001 senatorial race which he led with 16 million votes.

Born on July 6, 1949 in Pola, Oriental Mindoro, De Castro finished high school in Pola Catholic High School and obtained a commerce degree from the University of the East. He is married to Arlene, with whom he has three children with.

De Castro began his career a broadcaster during the Marcos dictatorship when the press was muzzled. From being first a field reporter of Johnny De Leon in 1976 he was promoted as announcer of RPN's DWWW radio station in 1982. He got his break in TV as segment host of Good Morning, Philippines' "At your Service" in 1986. He also joined DZMM, radio station of ABS-CBN, as anchorman of "Kabayan." “Kabayan” became a popular program, its name stuck and its anchor person came to be known as Kabayan Noli.

In 1987, De Castro became host of "Magandang Gabi…Bayan" and anchorman of the news and public affairs hit, "TV Patrol." In January 1999 he became over-all head of production of "TV Patrol" and vice president of DZMM until he pursued his political career in the 2001 polls as a senator.

During Estrada’s impeachment trial, some Filipinos raised concerns why De Castro rarely featured on his radio-TV programs critical items related to the issue. News circulated about this time that the broadcaster was about to join the Partido ng Masang Pilipino, Estrada’s political party. His enlistment never materialized however when the case against the President was building up and led to his ouster.

As a broadcaster, some of De Castro’s exposes triggered investigations and enhanced his image as “Mr. Clean.” Such image and his long visibility in the broadcast industry probably help him top the May 2001 senatorial elections. But how he emerged as fifth among top senatorial spenders in the elections remains a mystery. It is an open secret however that the Lopez family, owner of ABS-CBN and other mega-corporations, bankrolled their favorite broadcaster’s senatorial bid.

As a veteran broadcaster, Noli de Castro is widely known by radio and TV audiences who only get to appreciate him by watching his TV programs or listening to his radio broadcasts. But because media is largely a one-directional means of communication, audiences cannot as much scrutinize him let alone fully comprehend the real person in De Castro.

As a senator, however, he’s supposed to be a public figure accountable to the people. The “Mr. Clean” image that he probably built as a broadcaster now had to pass an acid test of sorts in the senate.

As a senator, De Castro authored Senate Bill No. 2029 or the Local Government Transparency Act which aims to end corruption through transparency measures in the local government units.

A few months after occupying his seat in the Senate in August 2001, De Castro found himself face-to-face with an agent of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF, now defunct) in connection with narco-politics involving fellow Sen. Panfilo Lacson. In the hearing, PAOCTF agent Ador Mawanay also accused De Castro, along with Rep. Ted Failon and ABS-CBN broadcast journalist Korina Sanchez of receiving payola from then police chief Lacson. Asked to show evidence, however, the agent could only say that he delivered payola to the mediamen “without papers.”

For committing what they believed was a gross disrespect to the Senate, De Castro and the other senators had the agent hauled into the chamber’s holding cell. Mawanay, who was presented as a witness by then AFP intelligence chief Col. Vic Corpus, has not been heard of since.

Mawanay’s allegations, though never pursued seriously, earned for the Mindoro senator the moniker, “De Cashtro.”

In a separate issue, De Castro has also been accused of sponsoring a bill, SB 2295, which is said to have been copied from an U.S. law that has reportedly caused a healthcare havoc among Americans. De Castro’s bill mandates malpractice insurance coverage for every physician. A similar law in the United States has, according to Donald Palmino, a New Orleans surgeon and president of the American Medical Association, “created a liability lottery, where select patients receive astronomical awards and others suffer because of it.

Dr. Philip S. Chua, chair of Cebu Doctors Hospital’s cardiovascular surgery section, accuses De Castro and other senators of being “shamefully misinformed, miserably blind, simply dumb or cleverly planning to invest in, or put up, malpractice insurance companies.”

Although publicly declaring he’s not interested in the presidency, the Mindoro senator has been consistently topping surveys about possible presidential and vice-presidential aspirants. De Castro again topped the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) on both slots, beating by several notches previous front-runner former Sen. Raul Roco, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other potential candidates.

All these have raised speculations that even if he refuses to be a presidential material he can be a sure winner by teaming up with the incumbent president. Secretly, De Castro is more confident with the vice presidential seat. If that happens, he will find himself clashing with fellow ABS-SBN broadcaster, Sen. Loren Legarda. Legarda has also been a frontrunner in surveys on vice-presidentiables.

Efren Elbanbuena, Davao City's Philippine Information Agency regional director, attributes De Castro’s popularity to media exposure. He says that De Castro and Legarda (who topped the 1998 senatorial race) landed high on the list in the senate elections because of "decades of popular exposure and contacts with their sources in the communities and many other sectors."

As a broadcaster, De Castro knew how to blend media strategy with politics. When in 1999 a mudslide struck Payatas, a huge dump in Quezon City, burying alive scores of slum dwellers and scavengers, several politicians grabbed the opportunity to collect relief goods for the victims. De Castro brought foam beds for the victims in the evacuation site.

But even as a senator, the fight for the public limelight at every turn of opportunity persists. In the release from Abu Sayyaf captivity of broadcaster Arlene dela Cruz, De Castro reportedly had a squabble with Legarda over who should be credited. Both reportedly paid an “ante” to the abductors to get photo ops during the release.

In the Senate, De Castro is known to speak only occasionally. The talk is that the senator can only talk effectively with a script, as what he does on TV. Sometimes though he takes his job seriously and makes some occasional careless remarks. Early this year during the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the senator asked the Senate in open session “to remove all the doorknobs or even close the Senate” to prevent contamination. Senate President Franklin Drilon cut short De Castro’s proposal: “I’m not taking this seriously. End of the story.”

This event recalls a remark by Legarda during her quarrel with De Castro over the Arlyn dela Cruz case. She called him “utak-talangka” (crab brain). Bulatlat.com