They said Poe would only bare his platform on Feb. 10, the official start of the 90-day campaign preceding the May 10 national and local elections.
Former Senate President Ernesto M. Maceda and former Negros Oriental Rep. Miguel Romero, spokesman of Sen. Edgardo J. Angara who is president of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) party, made separate statements to this effect following attempts of black propaganda against the political opposition by publicists of the Arroyo administration.
The political opposition had charged that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s use of government resources in going around the country supposedly as part of her presidential duties is a veiled way of electioneering.
"Poe has made himself scarce from journalists and has reiterated his position that he is distancing himself from politicians," Romero said.
This developed as Maceda, president emeritus of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), dared Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando to remove the President’s posters placed on practically all major streets in Metro Manila.
The posters of the President Arroyo are obviously part of electioneering maneuver by the administration to try to resuscitate the sagging popularity of the President, Maceda said.
The LDP is one of the three parties that comprise the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) whose presidential and vice presidential bets are Poe and Sen. Loren Legarda.
Leaders and sympathizers of the NPC, a party formed in 1992 by industrialist Eduardo Cojuangco, were given the green-light by Cojuangco to choose whom to support in the presidential, vice presidential and senatorial candidates.
Cojuangco decided not to run for the presidency after his intra-provincial sorties to test the public pulse on his planned presidential candidacy did not yield favorable results.
If Fernando is really serious in implementing the laws against the early campaigning of candidates, he should remove all the President Arroyo posters on major arteries of Metro Manila since they are obviously a violation of election laws, Maceda said.
"The posters of GMA (Arroyo) are clearly campaign materials because it is only now that they have mushroomed in every major areas in the metropolis and her slogan, Aasenso ang Bayan, is apparently a campaign slogan and not really a government program," Maceda added.
Under the law, a candidate is not allowed to campaign in any form before the designated date. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has designated Feb. 10 as the start of the campaign period for the national posts.
Maceda, likewise, observed that many of the government posters which previously contained just a mere message on a certain government program have now been changed to include the picture of President Arroyo.
He said the President’s radio program over the government station, Radyo ng Bayan, is also another form of early campaigning since it had been reformatted to include her vice presidential candidate, Sen. Noli de Castro.
"If that’s not early campaigning, I do not know what it is," Maceda said.
In contrast, Poe has been continuously abiding with Comelec rules to avoid being accused of prematurely discussing his platform and engaging in campaigning, he added.
"His (Poe’s) silence on his platform is the main concern raised by some sectors but he has kept silent on the specifics because he does not want to be accused of electioneering. He will discuss it when the campaign period starts which is the proper time for anyone of us to discuss our platforms of governance," Maceda stressed.
He said Poe’s visits and meetings with various sectors are mere dialogues with the people to determine their pulse on what should be done to improve the country’s peace and order, and economic situation.
