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FPJ
Now Wants To Be Called “Ka Ronnie”
Peasant leader says Da King
wants farm sector protected from WTO
Always
shy of media interviews, movie king and presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr.
(FPJ) surprised an assembly of peasant and fisherfolk leaders when he showed up
their forum of WTO globalization Saturday morning in Quezon City. He held a
one-on-one chat with peasant leader and political party Anakpawis president
Rafael Mariano where they talked about peasant issues and left when reporters
rushed in.
By
Gerry Albert Corpuz
Bulatlat.com
Action superstar turned presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr. known to his
legions of fans as FPJ and " Da King" now wants to be called "Ka
Ronnie" (Comrade Ronnie), says opposition Senator and Poe's campaign
spokesman Vicente " Tito" Sotto III.
The
opposition senator made the statement during the People's Electoral Forum on WTO
and Globalization held at the University of the Philippines (UP) Hotel in
Diliman, Quezon City last Friday.
It was FPJ's first public appearance since he announced his candidacy last
month. A coalition of opposition parties nominated him as the united
opposition's standard-bearer last week. He did not appear in his own
proclamation, however.
The UP forum was organized to seek the opinion and standpoints of politicians
running for higher elective posts in the May 2004 elections. Aside from FPJ,
invited were Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer Raul Roco, vice-presidential
hopeful Senator Loren Legarda, Vice-President Teofisto Guingona and former Sen.
Wigberto Tañada.
Roco and Guingona earlier declined because of previous commitments while Senator
Legarda sent a solidarity message in support of the electoral forum. However,
organizers said, they would sponsor another electoral forum
to give way to other candidates except President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
"Ipinagbilin ni Ka Ronnie na pakinggan ko ang hinaing ng mga magsasaka
at maralita at ipaabot ito sa kanya" (Ka Ronnie asked me to listen to
the demands of farmers and urban poor and to transmit these to him), Sotto told
a crowd of 200 leaders representing various farmer organizations, fisherfolk
alliances, church groups, student and youth associations and professional
groups.
FPJ came at around 8:45 a.m. or more than an hour ahead of the scheduled
electoral forum and left UP at exactly 9:30 a.m. to attend another meeting. But
he asked Sotto to represent him in the electoral forum organized by the Kilusang
Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP-Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and the
fisherfolk federation Pamalakaya.
KMP national chair and Anakpawis national political party president Rafael
Mariano had a 45-minute one-on-one discussion with FPJ. The peasant activist
leader described his less than an hour talk with FPJ as cordial and
accommodating.
"He (FPJ) is receptive to the anti-WTO and anti-globalization cause of
farmers and other rural-based organizations. All he needs to do is to take it by
heart and keep it in mind," Mariano added.
The peasant leader said his discussion with FPJ revealed a number of things: The
action star-turned presidential candidate agrees that WTO and trade
liberalization destroyed the livelihood of millions of small farmers and
petty producers in agriculture; that agriculture is the basic foundation of the
economy and the country should stop importing agricultural products produced by
local farmers like rice and other staple products and protect the sector from
the onslaught of free trade regime.
GMA not invited
"Ms Macapagal-Arroyo is not invited because we already knew and seriously
suffered from her anti-peasant policies of agricultural trade liberalization and
importation in accordance with the WTO. Anyway, as surveys and people's disgust
shows, she is a nuisance candidate," Mariano told Bulatlat.com
Calling GMA a rabid puppet of imperialist globalization, Mariano urged Poe and
other presidential candidates not to toe the Macapagal-Arroyo line on WTO and
globalization.
Pamalakaya
national chair Fernando Hicap echoed the same point. "President Macapagal-Arroyo
is an all-out supporter of WTO and imperialist globalization and besides, GMA is
already out of the race," Hicap said.
The
militant leader said FPJ and Roco currently are leading the race for presidency
but their position on WTO and free trade regime will change or affect their
chances, adding that millions of Filipino people are against" this inimical
and unfair trade set up."
Roco,
as a senator, supported the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) in
1994 when it was presented for Senate ratification by then senator Macapagal-Arroyo.
How about Danding?
Sotto said FPJ would not allow himself to be used or influenced by big business
interests including kingmaker and business tycoon Eduardo “Danding"
Cojuangco. He also said Danding will not play a major political role in FPJ's
presidential bid in May 2004 elections.
"Trabaho lang yung pag-e-endorse niya ng produkto ni Danding,"
(Endorsing Danding’s products was just a job), Sotto said referring to a
string of commercials done by FPJ several years ago for Cojuangco's San Miguel
Beer.
"If
Danding supports FPJ just like other people in the business, that's fine. But if
Danding asks for something big in return, then Ka Ronnie will not approve
it," he added.
Sotto admitted that while Cojuangco is a good friend of FPJ, the issue of
coconut levy will be subjected to a thorough review with the full participation
of coconut farmers and their designated representatives to resolve the
long-running dispute on the coconut levy fund now pegged at P 130 billion.
Consultative leadership
Sotto said FPJ will embark on a consultative leadership that would table
problems and other issues of great importance to every ordinary folk. These
issues include globalization, insurgency, militarization, peace talks and human
rights, he said.
He
also said FPJ’s no. 1 priority for the people is food security.
"Kailangan konsultahin ang mamamayan. Hindi sugod ng sugod"
(The people should be heard first and not make hasty decisions), FPJ's campaign
spokesman said on the type and system of governance the actor would employ once
elected as president in May 2004.
Sotto said an FPJ administration will value human rights and will oppose any
policy that would violate basic human rights and civil liberties like the
ongoing checkpoints, which he said, were a source of corruption and abuse, the
all-out war and the national ID system.
Protest on Dec. 15
Meanwhile, militants led by KMP, Pamalakaya and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan-New
Patriotic Alliance) will stage a rally on Dec. 15 to protest the re-grouping of
big capitalist countries on the same day in Geneva, Switzerland, three months
after the collapse of the 5th WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancun, Mexico last
Sept. 10-14.
Some 1,000 anti-WTO and anti-imperialist forces will attend the mass action
against the WTO General Council Meeting. Rally organizers said the Geneva
meeting will tackle issues which were not resolved in the recent Cancun
conference.
KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos said the WTO meeting in Geneva will also set
the agenda for the 6th Ministerial Meeting of the WTO in 2005 in Hong Kong.
"The
electoral forum is also a build up for the December 15 rally," he said. If
possible, he said, all candidates now numbering 450,000 running for 12,500
contested posts in the government should be asked about their position on WTO,
globalization and other issues of national and sectoral importance.
"An anti-WTO and anti-trade liberalization position will give advantage to
any political wannabe in May 2004 elections. It is one major rallying point to
get the electorate's trust and votes," he said. Bulatlat.com
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