THERE'S NOTHING wrong with a religious leader like Brother Eddie Villanueva becoming President as long as he does not establish a theocratic government in the style of the Taliban of Afghanistan and the ayatollahs of Iran, according to former senator Juan Ponce Enrile.
It would be perfectly all right as long as Villanueva, the spiritual head of the Jesus is Lord Movement charismatic sect, does not "mix the temporal world with the eternal world," said Enrile, who counts the evangelist as an "old friend."
Villanueva declared the other day he was "99 percent sure" of running for President next year at the head of the Bangon Pilipino movement that he launched earlier this week.
Malacañang Saturday said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Villanueva would remain "principled friends as far as reforms and reconciliation are concerned," after the President failed to convince the popular preacher to drop his plan to run and direct his flock, estimated at seven million members, to support her presidential bid.
"The President will respect whatever his plans are and whatever views he has on politics and governance," said presidential spokesperson Ignacio Bunye in a statement.
Bunye said the President "has a high regard for Brother Eddie and is grateful for his support for her programs and policies."
Commenting in his weekly program over dzEC radio Saturday, Enrile said a Villanueva presidency should not be based on the tenets of his church.
"Because once he places society under his concept of morality and his view of the Bible, that's a different story," he said in Filipino.
Enrile recalled how in Iran the Ayatollah Khomeini "imposed the fundamentalist concept of an Islamic government, with the Koran [Islam's holy book] as the basis of governance."
The Taliban also used the same approach in running Afghanistan, "that's why there's chaos there," said Enrile.
But the former senator warned that Villanueva may be entering into something that he was not really familiar with.
"If he withdraws now, people will doubt him. If he pushes through with his candidacy and he gets very few votes, it would reflect badly on his group. The real size of his following will be revealed," Enrile said in Filipino.
Enrile also defended both Villanueva and movie star Fernando Poe Jr., who are being derided as being unqualified for the high office they are aspiring to for being "non-politicians."
Enrile said he considers "both of them as experienced persons" who did not need high academic qualifications to become President.
He explained that experience does not only come from service in government but from life which any prospective President would be called on to use in making decisions.
Enrile said the country does not need another "economist" like Ms Macapagal as President.