Philippine movie star presidential candidate Fernando Poe is so popular on the stump that even communist guerrillas are attending his campaign rallies, his backers claimed yesterday.
A statement from the Poe camp, said "scores" of New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas had been monitored attending a huge campaign rally held by the popular actor in the southern town of Claveria several days ago.
"We were worried when we heard that NPA rebel bands were deploying in the hills just outside of Claveria. But we eventually found out that they came out for FPJ," said retired army general Jaime Echeverria, using Poe's initials.
Poe is neck and neck with incumbent President Gloria Arroyo in the latest opinion polls less than two months before the May 10 elections.
The NPA treats other candidates in less friendly fashion. Officials said three mayoral candidates have been assassinated after they refused to bow to extortion demands by the rebels.
By contrast, Echeverria said in the statement that the NPA had exempted Poe from its usual practice of extorting cash from campaigning candidates.
Poe, the John Wayne of Philippine cinema, has said that if elected he would "immediately reach out to all groups that have taken up arms against the government and engage in a genuine dialogue" to end insurgencies.
Arroyo launched peace talks with the insurgents last month but the rebels refused to suspend extortion activities against politicians and businessmen.
Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the insurgent Communist Party of the Philippines, the NPA's mother organization, personally endorsed Poe's vice presidential running-mate Loren Legarda earlier this year.
"I believe that if [Legarda] became the vice president [he] would be in a better position to take initiatives in pushing the peace negotiations forward to the goal of a just and lasting peace," Sison said in a statement.
RSS