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Raissa Robles

Vice-President Noli de Castro has a problem. Many Filipinos want his boss, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to resign.

But the former news anchor seems reluctant to step into the hot seat. As calls mounted for Mrs Arroyo to step down, Mr de Castro said: 'In truth, I don't really think about [the presidency].'

Last week, in a Hong Kong hotel where Mr de Castro was celebrating his 56th birthday, several cabinet ministers sought a meeting. They told him they intended to resign and call on Mrs Arroyo to step down.

The  ministers, led by  finance secretary Cesar Purisima, assured him they would be happy to help with a smooth transition  to make him the 15th  president.

'He did not even ask us to sit down,' said one of those present. The meeting lasted  20 minutes and Mr de Castro remained non-committal, the same source said.

He keeps his cards close to his chest, said  a former underling from Mr de Castro's days  at ABS-CBN, the country's largest network. The source  said he was  'a good boss who protects his own people'.

'What you see is what you get:  he yells at you, you yell back at him, and after a week his anger is gone,' the source said. 'Which is why I did not vote for him last election.

'He is not intellectually capable, not wily, and he does not know the dynamics of the political  landscape.'

However, Mr de Castro possesses  a rare talent Mrs Arroyo sorely needs. He can read the 'public pulse',  according to Senator Francis Pangilinan.

For over two decades, Filipinos watched Mr de Castro expose corruption in government and champion the downtrodden's causes.

While reading the evening news in his baritone voice, he cultivated the image of  the poor man's  kabayan or compatriot.

In 2001, his fans voted him into office, enabling him to top the senatorial polls.

In the Senate,  he  quietly pushed a reform agenda and sponsored two laws. One raised the tax-exempt shopping privilege of returning overseas contract workers by US$2,000. Another expanded the privileges of the elderly.

Unlike  wealthy ex-president Joseph Estrada, Mr de Castro experienced poverty first-hand. His father died when he was 10, forcing him to earn money by raising pigs. He eventually finished a bachelor's degree in commerce at one of the lower-tier  schools, the University of the East.

His personal life was messy - he separated from wife Pacita Torralba in 1976 - until he met Arlene Sinsuat in the mid-80s. Ms Sinsuat was the producer of Good Morning, Philippines, which he  anchored.

'Politically adept' is the way ABS-CBN insiders described Ms Sinsuat whom he married after his marriage to Ms Torralba was annulled in 1998.

'She fights for him and is totally devoted to him,' one of them said.

His wife is a member of a politically prominent Muslim clan in the southern Philippines.

There are early, but sure signs that scandals dug up by his political enemies would dog a de Castro presidency.

When he ran last year, the media  was bombarded with  claims that Mr de Castro had once accepted bribes to present biased news.

The reports  persist because, ironically, Mr de Castro  is media-shy.



Man who could be king plays his cards close to his chest