MANILA, Philippines -- Former president Joseph Estrada has assured anti-Charter Change advocates that he would be joining them in their rally in Makati City on Friday, noting that he must be there to represent the masses and to ensure the people would not be "deprived of having a duly elected President."

Estrada said he would join the rally because changes in the Constitution should only be done after 2010, especially amid corruption issues that have been hounding the administration.

"This administration has deprived the Filipino masses of their chosen leader not just once, when they ousted me, but twice when they cheated FPJ in the 2004 elections," referring to his best friend and actor Fernando Poe Jr., who ran for the presidency against incumbent Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Poe died of complications from stroke in 2005.

"We cannot and will not allow GMA [Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] nor these power-hungry congressmen to stay in power beyond 2010 through Charter change," Estrada said in a statement issued Thursday.

Estrada also lamented that should Charter amendments push through, he could "not entrust the future of our country with corrupt congressmen."

Estrada will be accompanied at the rally by his then Cabinet members, former trade secretary Jose Pardo, labor secretary Benny Laguesma, agrarian reform secretary Horacio Morales, among others.