No FPJ, no GMA in debate; with no GMA, Ping out, too

With movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. out of the presidential debate scheduled in April, President Arroyo will also stay away, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said yesterday.

Poe’s camp has said the high-school dropout may opt not to join the April 13 debate sponsored by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) because it could be a "trap" to embarrass the political novice.

Bunye said Malacañang is urging Comelec "to exercise its moral persuasion to convince Mr. Poe to appear and explain his platform of government on nationwide TV and on prime time."

He said that should the Comelec fail to convince Poe, Mrs. Arroyo herself "will have to beg off from any debate."

"I will only join the debate only if Poe is in that debate," the President said at a press conference in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. "It’s not worth it!"

While the President believes the public should be given a chance to know the candidates, a debate without "one of the principal contenders would not serve its purpose of giving the electorate an informed choice," Bunye said.

The other candidates — former education secretary Raul Roco, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, television Christian evangelist Bro. Eduardo Villanueva and businessman Eddie Gil — have said they would join the debate.

Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra said they "will exert the necessary and best effort to make all presidential candidates participate in the debate. We leave the sanction (on those not joining) to the voters."

He added that the Comelec and the PPCRV will "appeal to their reason" but if certain presidential candidates decide to skip the debate, chairs will be left vacant with the candidate’s name on it, and their allotted speech time will be evenly distributed to those present.

Comelec and PPCRV officials, as well as each of the candidates’ representatives, are expected to meet on March 13 to finalize the mechanics and venue of the debate.

Another presidential candidate, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, told Poe to join the debate and prove his critics wrong.

"He should join the debate because that would give him the opportunity to disprove that he doesn’t have a platform of government, that he cannot confront the issues," he said.

Lacson, who earlier expressed his willingness to engage in a debate with any of the other presidential candidates, said if Poe finally decides to skip the debate, "that’s his prerogative."

Lacson has attended several fora that allowed presidential candidates to explain their platforms of government, including one organized two weeks ago by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, which Mrs. Arroyo and Poe did not attend.

He said the presidential debate will be useless without Mrs. Arroyo’s participation.

"The debate is primarily called for not only to give the public a glimpse of the presidential candidates’ platforms of government but also to clarify issues confronting the administration. Without (Mrs. Arroyo’s) presence, those issues will not be addressed at all," Lacson said.

He added that "a debate without the person causing all the country’s woes is useless. I have many questions to ask her and many issues to discuss with her."

Poe’s failure to present a concrete platform has unnerved businessmen, who see him as unqualified to run the country where a majority of its 82 million citizens live in poverty.

The financial markets have been volatile since he announced his candidacy, with the peso falling to historic lows.

Poe told STAR publisher Max Soliven Wednesday, while being interviewed for "Impact 2004" talk show on ANC, that debates only cause "antagonism and divisiveness," and that he is a man of action, not words. — With Jess Diaz, Paolo Romero, Jose Aravilla, Lino dela Cruz, Jose Rodel Clapano, Sheila Crisostomo, Mike Frialde, AFP