Communist founding chairman says Poe faking pro-poor image

Action star Fernando Poe Jr has been unmasked as a person who fakes affection towards the poor, said Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the 35-year-old Communist Party of the Philippines .

"Poe has not successfully projected himself as a champion of the poor beyond the screen. He is aloof, arrogant and short-tempered," Sison said.

The progressive party-list groups "have been exposing the fact that there is nothing in Poe's programme that would turn around the Philippine situation and, worst of all long-running plunderers and human-rights violators are behind him and are using him as a dummy," said Sison in reference to the number of traditional politicians who are supporting the actor.

Poe is a "self-centred person" who "has no need for the help of anyone because he is too popular not to be elected," said Sison, adding, "he has no platform of government that can bring about change in the Philippines."

When compared to President Gloria Arroyo, Poe's closest rival, Sison said the latter is "vulnerable (only) to criticism for her performance in office during the last three years," but the former is "vulnerable to outright rejection as someone totally lacking in intellectual preparation and political experience for the presidential position.

"Even the notorious human rights violator, Senator Panfilo Lacson, refused to become Poe's running mate," said Sison.

Poe and Lacson are the two presidential candidates of the opposition.

Poe was never elected to any public office, said Sison, adding this made the former inferior even to Joseph Estrada who was a mayor, senator, and vice president before he was elected president in 1998.

In his strongest condemnation of Poe, Sison said that Filipino intellectuals were wrong in thinking that the poor were unthinking supporters of the actor.

"The masses are in fact the best source of learning. Given the time and the opportunity to hear all views, they sharpen the awareness of their own conditions and needs and make the intelligent decisions," he said.

Reacting to Sison, Rigoberto Tiglao, the presidential chief of staff, said, "For the first time since 1986, he (Sison) has his political analysis right. He is basing his analysis on concrete conditions."

Senior deputy presidential chief of staff Rene Velasco denied that the presidential palace solicited the statement from Sison who has been living in exile in the Netherlands since 1987.

The communist National Democratic Front and the government have been engaged in on and off peace talks since 1992. Both camps recently suspended formal peace talks because of the May 10 elections.