NEWSFLASH

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WHY MARTIN SHEEN FEELS CLOSE TO THE POOR

Manila, Nov. 14, 1997 - Martin Sheen, who is in Manila at the head of a fact-finding mission on urban poverty, told a Filipino audience why he feels a kinship with the poor.

Sheen, Ramon Esteves in real life, was born into a working class family in Ohio, the seventh in a brood of 10 kids. His Irish mother died when he was 1; his Spanish father raised them on his own.

"I have been aware of poverty all my life. All of us started very young as caddied in a local country club in my town. As a child caddy for nine years, I have a pretty long involvement in being a servant for the over privileged. It has taught me some very important and life-saving lessons. "

Will his visit change the lives of the people in communities he went to?

"I cannot change anyone's life. I cannot change any situation. But one thing I can do is to draw attention to the problem and to help the people who are marginal. I am very willing to use my celebrity status to do that."

The actor first saw poverty in the Philippines when he starred in "Apocalypse Now" directed by Francis Ford Coppola which was shot here 20 years ago.

Sheen's Philippine trip was organized by the Urban Poor Colloquium, an association of 16 urban poor groups and their supporters.