Sen. Francis Escudero, age 39, is the youngest pretender to Malacañang Palace in 2010. Asked by anchor Tina Monzon-Palma at the ANC Leadership Forum last Monday what was his strongest point in running for the presidency, he said, ?Being young.? But under intense grilling in the glare of TV cameras, Escudero wilted. What?s your weakness? ?Being young, according to my critics,? he said. Next to being young, what was his weakness, he was asked again. ?I was not born into wealth.? So who funded his campaign for the first district of Sorsogon province? He said the biggest contributor to his campaign chest was his party, Danding Cojuangco?s Nationalist People?s Coalition (NPC). The rest came from small contributors.

Escudero was reminded that in his statement of assets and liabilities for 2007, he declared P7.5 million worth of assets. He was told that the estimated expense for Senate election was P3 billion. So where did he get the money to finance his Senate bid (he won the second highest vote in the 2007 Senate election)? He said the estimate was exaggerated. The amount ?is illegal,? he noted.

The law allows spending P10 per voter (there are 40 million voters). Escudero?s reply begged the issue.

The anchor told him he is known for being fond of vintage cars. Escudero said he bought and sold vintage cars, one at a time, since there is no space for several cars in his home.

He said his wife is a music teacher, and they have two children. He claimed he represented the 18 to 40 age group who wants to have a ?say in running the country.? More than half of the country?s voters belong to this generation, but do they identify with him?

While Escudero was quick to answer questions, the anchor did not focus on his record in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. Little was asked about the legislation he sponsored in Congress. And this allowed him to convert the forum into a glib exchange in which nothing of substance emerged. Escudero used every opportunity to picture himself as an oppositionist, whose main achievement was to lead impeachment moves against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Is this the alternative that the young generation are looking for in the next presidency? In the end the public saw a big bubble with nothing inside except hot air.

Escudero was among five presidential pretenders who went through public scrutiny of their fitness for the exalted office. The age gap between Escudero and his seniors is rather large: Sen. Richard Gordon is 63, and Sen. Manuel ?Mar? Roxas II is 51. Both are experienced.

Gordon can?t catch his breath when recounting his achievements at Subic. Like Escudero, Roxas, Gilbert Teodoro and Ed Panlilio, he is not tainted with corruption?the main issue against the outgoing Arroyo administration. He thinks he is an agent of change and the first thing he aims to do when elected is to use the office as a ?bully pulpit? for a ?transformational presidency? by example.

As a former investment banker in New York, Roxas knows his economics, but he does not excite the public. In the vulgar political idiom of the day, Roxas ?does not connect? with the masses. At the forum, one question asked was whether Roxas was using his engagement with TV celebrity Korina Sanchez to put some sparkle to his dull campaign. This question did not do justice to Roxas who has much expertise to offer. But the forum was a revelation. When the five were asked what contribution President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has done to the country, Roxas said, ?She appointed me secretary of trade and industry and supported my policies.? Roxas can be full of himself.

The forum was flawed because the questions were not focused on common issues to mark out their differences. Sparks did not fly.

Panlilio, 55, is a priest who has not yet resigned his ministry to be a full-time public official. Asked if he is prepared for the rough and tumble of Philippine politics, he said he had entered politics because ?I have the passion and heart for the country.?

He said the country needs ?the best people to run government.? But he was not candid enough to recognize that a Catholic priest running for the presidency for the first time faces conflicts of interest over certain social issues. The ANC anchors did not press him for his position on the extrajudicial executions arising from the counterinsurgency campaign. The killings have generated international pressure from human rights organizations.

Teodoro got off lightly from the grilling when the forum failed to focus on this issue. Among the five, he turned out to be the apologist for the administration when he answered questions on the legacy of the Arroyo administration. He had a long list of the achievements that sounded like a summary of the President?s State of the Nation Address, including the 7.3 percent economic growth in 2007, the low level of unemployment and the infrastructure programs of the government.

Teodoro has wasted the opportunity to use the defense department as a powerful platform for reform of the Armed Forces and stopping the carnage of leftist activists. If there is a sector in which the tendencies of the presidential aspirants may be polarized and defined, it is the candidacy of Teodoro.

By failing to crystallize policy differences among the presidential aspirants, the Leadership Forum was of little help to the public in making choices for an alternative to the outgoing Arroyo administration.

No one among the five presidential aspirants emerged undiminished from the encounter. And we are still in the dark.