Poe is opposition candidate for president - Imee

Congresswoman Imee Marcos confirmed that action film star Fernando Poe Jr is the opposition's presidential candidate the 2004 elections.

During a press conference, Imee, the eldest child of the ousted president Ferdinand Marcos, disclosed to reporters that in her recent short conversation with Poe, the actor confirmed that he is running for president.

But she also admitted that Poe is considering whether he would run as independent, or as the official candidate of the united opposition.

Marcos predicted that Poe would run as an independent candidate if the united opposition chooses opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson as its standard-bearer in next year's polls.

At the same time, Marcos said the Northern Alliance, composed of 31 Ilocano-speaking congressmen, would no longer remain solid behind one presidential candidate.

Each of the four aspirants, President Gloria Arroyo, Poe, Lacson and former education secretary Raul Roco has their own sets of supporters in northern Luzon.

There have been attempts to revive the so-called "Solid North" which remained united in the past, during the time of the former strongman, when it was a key region for any presidential candidate. The members of the alliance come from the Ilocos, the Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley.

Imee explained that Northern Luzon voters would go for Arroyo and Poe, both of whom trace their roots to Binalonan and San Carlos City in Pangasinan respectively. Lacson's supporters in the north are well organised, too, she added.

Roco has supporters from Cordillera, La Union and Pangasinan, Imee stated. Roco's wife, Sonia, survived the July 16, 1990, killer earthquake in Luzon and Baguio on July 16, 1990.