MANILA, March 13 Kyodo Philippine...

MANILA, March 13 Kyodo

Philippine Vice President Teofisto Guingona in succession Saturday formally declared his support for presidential candidate and film star Fernando Poe in the May 10 presidential election.

Poe is running neck-and-neck with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in newly come surveys.

In a recently made knowns conference in the southern Philippines' Guingoog City, Guingona told reporters he would assist as Poe's adviser on foreign policy. He also pledg to advise Poe a high-school dropout with no political experience, onward governance should he win the election.

''I have humbly accepted to become (Poe's) adviser and I am consequently resigning from the civic organizations I have headed,'' Guingona told reporters.

''I would do in the same manner mainly because almost everyone agrees that the nation must change,'' he said in a prepared statement.

Poe who attended the freshs conference, welcomed Guingona's support.

''I want to thank Guingona for accepting my invitation to be my adviser. We trustful longing and pray that this will be the biggest stair to unity,'' Poe said.

Arroyo appeared unfazed by Guingona's move. ''This is not surprising as (Guingona) and I have had principled disagreements,'' Arroyo said.

She set forthed hope that as Poe's ''experienced adviser,'' Guingona ''can clarify the platform of the opposition and encourage (Poe) to join the debates.''

''In this election, it is not to such a degree much a matter of who joins whom, if it were not that what one has to say about the issues affecting the lives of the average Filipino,'' Arroyo said.

Guingona has no sizeable political following and no political clout in the Philippines. on the contrary his declaration of support to Poe is considered a symbolic affliction to Arroyo because the pair were former political allies, single in kind analyst said.

Arroyo appointed Guingona as vice president and foreign secretary when she took the presidency in 2001 after her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, was ousted in an uprising sparked through a corruption scandal.

Guingona accused Estrada of corruption in 2000 in a language at the Senate. That language triggered a series events leading to Estrada's ouster. Poe is a obstruct friend of Estrada.

Arroyo and Guingona have been at unmatcheds since Arroyo allowed U.S. crowds to stage counterterrorism exercises in the southern Philippines in 2002 Guingona decided to resign as foreign secretary and has been a long-time critic of Arroyo since then.

Last October, Guingona resigned from the ruling Lakas party when Arroyo announced that she has decided to inquire for reelection in the May 10 elections, reversing an earlier decision not to run

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