By Carlito Pablo

www.seasite.niu.edu

Just a few years after parlaying his popularity as a media practitioner into politics and nothing much else-first in the 2001 senatorial elections and three years later running successfully for Vice President-the man known for his moniker "Kabayan" (countryman) has come tantalizingly close to becoming President.

Dubbed by administration quarters as a "modern political phenomenon in a country dominated by few elite families," De Castro was recently offered a crack at the presidency by former allies of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whose leadership is being rocked by a spate of scandals ranging from massive corruption to electoral fraud.

De Castro has declined the offer made on behalf of 10 former Cabinet members of Mrs. Arroyo who recently quit their posts in the midst of allegations that their boss cheated in the May 10, 2004 presidential elections and demanded the resignation of the President.

Though his credentials and experience in politics are far from being up to par with supposed standards, De Castro needs no other qualifications to succeed President Arroyo other than being the duly elected Vice President.

Opposition quarters in Manila, however, aren't about to easily concede the political succession in case the Office of the President is vacated.

Opposition figure and former Senator Francisco Tatad said that as Mrs. Arroyo's running mate in the 2004 elections, De Castro may have also benefited from the alleged fraud committed during the hotly contested polls.

Then defeated challenger and now deceased former movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. had protested the results of the elections before the Supreme Court sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

Poe's running mate and former Senator Loren Legarda had also filed an electoral protest, questioning the victory of De Castro in the vice presidential race.

"This fear of the unknown, despite the promise of change," was how Tatad described the supposed pulse of the public to the prospect of a De Castro president.

While De Castro obtained a university education, having acquired a diploma in commerce with banking and finance as his major course, he has not shown aptitude in policy making as shown by his short stint at the Senate.

As running mate and later Vice President to the American-educated Mrs. Arroyo, De Castro is largely a crowd drawer to public meetings consultations called by his Mrs. Arroyo during and after the 2004 elections.

Tatad said that a De Castro presidency can only succeed under certain conditions and commitments for the presidency.

One of these, according to Tatad, is the formation of a council of senior advisers or a transitional body that will temporarily govern the country until a new leader is elected in a credible elections.

Tatad also said there is a need to rewrite the Constitution through a constituent assembly, and to effect a total reform of the electoral system and the bureaucracy.

The newly formed Unity for Truth and Justice (U4TJ), a Manila-based coalition of anti-Arroyo forces that include Tatad, is pushing for a caretaker council which will take over in a post-Arroyo situation.

"Our people already want her to go, and she should know it. She's already a hopeless President, one who can no longer lead the country. She should save the country if not herself," said U4TJ spokesperson Horacio Morales.

Morales, a former member of the Cabinet of deposed former President Joseph Estrada, said that they are flatly rejecting the possible takeover of De Castro in case Mrs. Arroyo resigns.

Morales said that De Castro should go with President Arroyo for allegedly having been a party himself to the 2004 electoral fraud.

Morales said the transition government which will be composed of representative from different sectors and joined under a council of elders, will run the country until a permanent President is elected through a special election.

With the formation of a transition government and assurances of clean elections, Morales said that the opposition would join the polls.