Big stars square off at polls

The intrusion of stars in the entertainment industry into politics has happened in several countries in the last two decades. Our Asia correspondent Harvey Stockwin describes this process in the Philippines and its likely impact on the present presidential election.

HONG KONG (JP): Recently new leaders ostensibly took charge in the two Asian giants, India and China. A lot of serious events took place, with great solemnity, which require further study rather than instant analysis.

So it is worth noting that in the Philippines, they still manage to handle politics with a laugh, a smile and a cheer, as well as with verve, vigor and vivacity. These are qualities not readily associated with politics in China and not always in India, too.

In the Philippines, the big issue now, as the presidential election campaign gets underway, is -- will Nora still pull it off? or will Vilma emerge victorious in the end?

Nora? Vilma? even more presidential candidates, on top of the 78 who originally put forward their nominations for president? Well, not quite, at least not yet.

Nora Aunor became famous in the Philippines in the late 1960s by being the first superstar to recognizably come from among the masses. She was clearly of Malay stock, an indio, in a profession which, like the nation itself, is still dominated by the mestizo, or mixed blood, elite.

As in India in years gone by, so in the Philippines, most of the big stars in the entertainment industry were pale, often as white as the departing colonialists. Nora was brown-skinned, and unlike Michael Jackson, not about to change it. She came, as the saying went, from the bakya crowd -- a reference to the cheap wooden clogs worn by the masses.

Nora Aunor was not only a good performer -- the masses could identify with her, and they did. Thus her longheld title as the Philippines first real superstar.

Over the years, most presidential candidates have been mestizo too, which means that they possessed varying degrees of Malay, Chinese, Spanish, American and various other bloods in their veins. If any Asian country deserves to be called a melting pot it is the Philippines.

While in the former British empire, Eurasians were generally (and unfairly) looked down upon, and did not comprise the ruling elite after independence, in the Philippines the mestizo blend, and the intermingling it represented, was taken for granted, the more so since the bakya crowd generally looked up to and respected their patrons within the mestizo ruling elite.

This presidential campaign is interesting because the masses look like coming into their own in more ways than one. The leading candidate is a former famous movie star in the Ronald Reagan mold, who also happens to be very indio. He is Joseph Estrada, derided by the elite because he speaks English poorly and is famed for his mangled misuse of that language. But Tagalog-speaking Estrada is widely accepted by the masses because, as a movie hero, he always defeated the baddies in the end.

Estrada's chances of winning the election are the greater because the indio superstar, Nora Aunor herself, appears at nearly all of Estrada's rallies. She may not have quite the appeal of yesteryear, having herself demonstrably become part of the elite, and since her make-up nowadays often makes her look mestizo herself -- but she still packs them in. At the rallies, while she sings, Estrada doesn't have to talk.

The Joseph-Nora combination was one reason, among several, why outgoing President Fidel Ramos' favored candidate, House of Representatives Speaker Jose De Venecia, was falling further and further behind in the polls -- even in the polls designed to show him in the lead. De Venecia is, in Filipino-speak, the essential trapo, or traditional politician, able to get on well with his fellow pros in smoke-filled backrooms, but not so hot at communicating with the masses on the hustings.

So De Venecia has pulled out a secret weapon, Nora's great superstar rival over the last three decades, the widely adored mestizo, Vilma Santos. Vilma was primarily a serious actress, while Nora Aunor was primarily an entertainer, but they have often crossed into each other's professional territory.

So, as one breathless news item put it recently ---"The Nora Aunor-Vilma Santos rivalry of yesteryear, which divided the country into staunch Noranians and Vilmanians, has been revived on the campaign trail."

De Venecia's strategists are hoping that they have hit on a formula which could "instantly nudge the Speaker's popularity to the forefront". Vilma will be attending and performing at his rallies from now on. The presence of Vilma could also provide the spark that will increase attendance at De Venecia's rallies, which , so far, have paled in comparison to the crowds turning up to see the Joseph-Nora show.

As it happens, Vilma Santos already has an interest herself in politics. She is married to a Congressman, who comes from a famous nationalist family in Batangas province, south of Manila. She herself in running for office this year, seeking to become the mayor of Lipa City. The good residents of Lipa City have assured Vilma that she need not campaign in the town to be assured of victory, so she is free to compete with Nora on the presidential trail.

Who knows this may be the beginning of a political rivalry ---politics in the Philippines so often seems to be so theatrical that it would come as no surprise if, in 2004, Nora and Vilma square off for the presidency itself. For now, their respective interventions in the election campaign could be crucial. This is because, even after the chairman of the Commission on Elections Bernardo Pardo's brave attempt to remind Filipinos that politics is a serious business, there are still far too many candidates on the presidential trail.

As earlier reported by The Jakarta Post , chairman Pardo, faced with no less than 78 Filipinos and Filipinas filing their nominations for the presidency, sought to radically reduce that number to five. In the end he had to compromise and agree to eleven political "heavyweights" all having a chance to run.

Against this background of too many candidates chasing too few votes, the impact of such essentially national figures as Nora Aunor and Vilma Santos becomes much more important than it would otherwise be. Stay tuned, for the rest of the campaign it is probably going to be a jolly ride. In Philippine democracy, there's no business like show business.