PHILIPPINES: FERNANDO POE JR, A PHILIPPINE ACTOR WHO SOUGHT PRESIDENCY, FELL INTO A COMA AFTER SUFFERING A STROKE

Record ID: 233181

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: FERNANDO POE JR, A PHILIPPINE ACTOR WHO SOUGHT PRESIDENCY, FELL INTO A COMA AFTER SUFFERING A STROKE
  • Date: 12th December 2004
  • Summary: (W3)MANILA, PHILIPPINES (FILE - NOVEMBER 26, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. TV FERNANDO POE, JR. WITH SUPPORTERS AND JOURNALISTS 0.14 2. CU POSTER OF POE HOLDING A CANDLE 0.19 3. LV/SV POE WALKING THROUGH CROWD AT HOTEL LOBBY (2 SHOTS) 0.45 4. SV POE TAKING A SEAT AS NEWS CONFERENCE BEGINS 0.53 5. SV MEDIA 0.59 6. MCU (Filipino
  • Embargoed: 27th December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES AND UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATION
  • Country: Philippines
  • Reuters ID: LVA3CQFLXD8UOOIOUR7NQ87BA4GW
  • Story Text: Poe, Philippine actor who sought presidency, in coma.



    Fernando Poe Jr, a Philippine movie icon who came
    close to unseating Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as president,
    fell into a coma on Sunday (December 12) after suffering a
    stroke, friends and supporters said.

    Known across the nation as FPJ and "Da King", the
    65-year-old parlayed his roles as the strong, silent hero
    of 200 films into an election campaign that wooed the poor
    masses but made analysts nervous with little beyond vague
    plans for the economy.

    "He is in a comatose condition, so we are asking the
    people for prayers," Francis Escudero, Poe's campaign
    spokesman, told Reuters. "FPJ is strong. He will fight to
    survive."
    Escudero said a blood vessel in Poe's brain was blocked
    but he was responding to medication. Doctors would keep the
    film star under observation for the next 72 hours, he added.

    Political backers and movie stars were talking to
    officials at a seminary near the hospital about hosting a
    prayer vigil.

    In the May election, Poe came within three percent of
    blocking a new term for Arroyo, exploiting the popular
    appeal that had propelled his friend and fellow actor
    Joseph Estrada into a presidency which ended in 2001 with
    massive street protests.

    Arroyo, an economist, has seen her popularity slide in
    recent months as costs rise and the public grows more
    concerned about rampant corruption and the state of the
    economy.

    After the election, the opposition filed scattered
    charges of fraud as Poe returned to the film world and an
    unusually private life for an action hero.

    Jejomar Binay, mayor of Manila's financial hub Makati,
    said Poe was hosting a party for politicians, movie friends
    and campaign supporters at his film studio on Saturday
    evening when
    he felt dizzy and had searing pain in the back of his head.

    Poe was rushed to hospital, where he lost consciousness
    in the early hours of Sunday.



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