Erap slams Noynoy on claims of victory amid revolt threat

Chastised, LP bet gives new spin to people power protest

Former Philippine leader Joseph Estrada insisted yesterday he could cause a major upset and win next week’s presidential election, as he slammed the Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer for threatening a popular uprising if he loses the elections.

“That is very crazy,” Estrada told reporters, reacting to warnings from Sen. Benigno Aquino’s camp that his supporters would take to the streets if his huge lead in opinion polls was not reflected with an election triumph.

“He must not be so presumptuous as to claim a premature victory, and worse, threaten mass action if he does not win the elections.”

“He might want to take a lesson from his mother (the late President Corazon Aqino) to speak with more humility. After all, the race is not yet over. May the best man win,” said Estrada, 73.

The surveys show Aquino enjoying a huge lead with 39 percent support, Pulse Asia said last week as it released its final survey before the election.

The same survey showed Estrada tied in second place with Nacionalista Party standard bearer, Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar.

The latest survey released yesterday conducted by the Manila Standard Today newspaper showed Estrada overtaking Villar, landing in second place with 22 percent to Aquino’s 38 percent.

But Estrada said his own surveys showed he was trailing Aquino by only 10 percentage points, with 25 percent of the country’s 50 million voters expected to pick him, and that he would continue to gain support over the next week.

“Aquino’s numbers have reached a plateau, Villar’s are on a nosedive, while mine are on a steady, upward trajectory,” Estrada said.

Aquino on Monday again raised the prospect of a popular uprising should he lose.

“Clearly there is a majority with us, and if their voices are not heard, they will take the appropriate action,” he told reporters while on the campaign trail in the eastern Philippines, although he now claims he never threatened an uprising should he lose the presidential race, even when he did and very clearly, even saying that the civil unrest that will be unleashed, should he lose the elections which he translates to his having been cheated, will be even worse than the undeclared civil war ongoing in Thailand, where scores have been killed by government forces.

The Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) camp, for its part, described as “divine intervention” Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales’ rejection of Aquino’s call for another Edsa revolt.

“Crazy, crazy, crazy,” “irresponsible,” were just some of the adjectives the prelate used to describe Aquino’s declaration that people power should be resorted to in the event that he loses the presidential elections.

“We consider Cardinal Rosales’ reprimand a divine intervention; maybe this will be a wake-up call for those who have been made to believe that they have a divine right to the presidency,” said lawyer Ralph Calinisan, PMP spokesman, obviously referring to Aquino.

Calinisan added the cardinal’s statement should also be taken to heart by voters who remain undecided on who they will vote for in the forthcoming elections.

“Those who initially considered going yellow, should rethink their choice of ‘color.’ Orange would be better, but not Villar’s bogus orange,” he added.

The PMP also reminded the electorate that the more pressing issue is not whether documents purporting to be the results of Aquino’s psychological exam are authentic, but the contents stated.

“It is the duty of every person aspiring for the top post of the land to be forthcoming on the real state of his health; anything less makes him unsuitable for the presidency,” Calinisan remarked.

Aquino’s statement has also sparked criticisms from other sectors who describe his “braggadocio” as unsettling.

Estrada has already promised that he would spring a surprise on election day.

In Baguio, former first lady and senator Loi Estrada, wife to the former prresident stressed that her husband is fit for the presidency, stressing that “he is 73, but physically, mentally, psychologically, and even sexually fit,” Loi, a psychairtist by profession, said.

Dr. Loi said that the Estrada family including her daughter Jacqueline and organizations allied with the PMP are now all out campaigning for the former president. Jacqueline together with husband Beaver Lopez, has been concentrating on public markets around the country.

She added that she has also been doing her part of the campaigning by consolidating Mare, a women’s group allied with the PMP. She said that the organization, which has suffered some casualties, has been consolidated to a total of around three million members.

The Mare Foundation, is concerned with improving the lot of the poor masses particularly women.

A chastised Nonoy Aquino yesterday backtracked on his earlier statement on mounting a people power revolt if he loses the presidency.

“I assume he (the cardinal) was fed certain quotes attributed to me which might or might not have been correct. And he was reacting to those, and if he had heard exactly what I said I don’t think he would have rendered that opinion. If I’m not mistaken, the statement read something like this: ‘In case there is cheating and you lose what would you do?’ My answer was people have been waiting for the elections to address what they perceived as wrong governance happening in the past 9.5 years. Having patiently waited for the elections and having patience rewarded with frustration, they will rise up and sovereignty resides in the people, they will exercise their sovereignty,” he said in a press conference in Bacacay, Albay. “And if it does not happen I am being made to look like a rabble rouser or an irresponsible individual,” Aquino complained.

But the LP candidate believes that the events that will transpire on May 10 “will necessarily cause a reaction…At the end of the day clearly there is a majority with us and if their voices are not heard, they will take I think appropriate action,” Aquino claimed.

He expressed confidence on his top standing in the coming elections, as poll surveys show him consistently leading the race.

“Is there a possibility of losing? You know, the 20-point spread, can I just round it off, it’s 19 points but I can beg the 1 percent, so 20 percent in a 40 million turnout translates to about 8 million advance. So they have to recover 8 million, and they have to add more votes on top of the 8 million to overcome our lead. With 5 days left in the campaign that’s practically 2 million votes they will have to be getting and I think that’s very difficult (to overcome),” he said.

Meanwhile, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Jose Melo Monday said the call for people power of Aquino in the event of a failure of election is a “childish” act.

Melo issued this statement in support of Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales who last Sunday who branded as a “crazy” the threat bu Aquino of a new people power.

“It should not be the reason to threaten a revolt. It is so childish, no different from saying I already won (the race). We should respect the process,” Melo told reporters in a chance interview.

Melo once again assured the public that it would be impossible to rig the coming May 10 polls.

Multi-sectoral poll watchdog group Kontra Daya countered Cardinal Rosales’ opinion saying it would be worse if the people would just roll over and die despite having doubtful election results.

Sr. Mary John Mananzan of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP), said the people should be allowed to fight for their rights if these are being run over already.

Fr. Joe Dizon of Solidarity Philippines, also noted that the people must be open to all possibilities if only to ensure that President Arroyo would no longer stay beyond June 30.

But Malacañang yesterday was gratified to learn that Cardinal Rosales is one with the administration and other level-headed people who condemn calls to form another civilian uprising should there be any misgiving held by some quarters on the outcome of the nationwide elections next week.

“What the cardinal has stated is true and this is obviously something that we’ve been saying ourselves, that there are no objective conditions or no objective basis to call for another street adventurism from any quarter no matter how well-intentioned they are,” Olivar said.

Olivar added that the opinion expressed by the cardinal should have sent enough signals to those who are planning to bring such radical idea to life.

“We are gratified by the position taken by the cardinal who is obviously a man of peace, who speaks for our church, and is committed to peace. And, we hope that our countrymen who belong to the same church as most, if not all, of us do, will heed his words and follow the example of prudence and level-headedness that he is counseling us as a shepherd to his flock,” Olivar stressed.

Malacañang, however, criticized former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban who urged the public to vote for a candidate who has more chances in winning or the survey frontrunners, so to speak, in order to guarantee a genuine presidential proclamation after the elections.

Panganiban, in his Sunday column ‘With Due Respect’ said that a ‘horrendous landslide’ victory for the president and vice president is necessary to topple the gridlock that would stem from so-called ‘glitched’ votes.

Olivar called this opinion a ‘self-serving’ argument, assenting to a critic’s point of view that this would certainly defeat the purpose of democratic elections where voters should be allowed to choose a candidate freely and not because of surveys or out of other people’s concerns. –With AFP, Gerry Baldo and Marie Surbano