ERAP ON VILLAR VIRTUES. Former president Joseph Estrada seems to be hinting at endorsing Senate President Manuel Villar in the 2010 presidential elections. Video taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Veronica Uy at the municipal hall of Dinalupihan in Bataan, Philippines.
SHARING THE LIMELIGHT. For the first time since the 2001 EDSA 2 uprising, former president Joseph Estrada and Senate President Manuel Villar (center and right) share the stage at an affair in Dinalupihan, Bataan province, Wednesday, an event former Senate president Ernesto Maceda (left) described as historic. As House Speaker, it was Villar who endorsed the impeachment complaint against Estrada to the Senate, where the refusal of the former president’s allies to open an envelope believed then to contain vital evidence aborted the impeachment trial and triggered the uprising that ousted Estrada. INQUIRER.net/VERONICA UY
Estrada: Presidential bet must be pro-poor, anti-corruption By Veronica Uy INQUIRER.net First Posted 10:14:00 01/23/2008
ORANI, Bataan -- (UPDATE 2) Former president Joseph Estrada said on Wednesday that his candidate for president in 2010 should be “pro-poor in words and action” and should be “anti-corruption.”
Estrada issued the statement in response to reporters’ questions on what his criteria was in choosing the standard bearer of the opposition.
But at the same time, Estrada refused to name his candidate, saying that all presidential aspirants of the opposition would go through a process of selection that would include a series of three surveys to determine winnability.
Earlier in the day in Dinalupihan, Estrada was reported as having hinted that he was going to endorse the candidacy of Senate President Manuel Villar, who was said to be eyeing the presidency.
Estrada and Villar are together here for the former president’s Pasasalamat (Thanksgiving) Caravan, which rolled through four towns.
Villar, who was also at the press conference here, intervened and asked reporters not to put the former president on the spot by asking who he will endorse.
In Dinalupihan, Estrada told the crowd that they should be proud to have Villar for a son, having risen from poverty through “sipag at tiyaga [hardwork and perseverance].”
Villar’s mother is from Orani.
Estrada promised to help campaign for the opposition standard bearer and although he did not name him, Estrada told the people in front of the Municipal Hall in Dinalupihan:
“Tutulong tayo sa kung sino ang magiging kandidato sa pagkapangulo, pangalawang pangulo at senador. Pero hindi muna ako magsasalita kung sino ang aking susuportahan dahil ayaw kong magkamali at baka ako'y inyong sisihin...Pero may sinabi na akong maganda kanina. Bahala na kayong mag-isip [We will help in the campaign of those who will run for president, vice president and senator. But I won't say who I will support because I don't want to make a mistake and you might blame me...But I already told you something good earlier. It's up to you to decide who I mean].”
Estrada reiterated that he himself was not inclined to run for President in 2010.
“Hindi ko na kailangan maging Pangulo. Inaalay ko na lang ito sa ating mga kababayan, lalung-lalo na sa mga kababayan nating mahirap [I don't need to be President. I am just offering it to our countrymen, especially the poor],” said Estrada.
Former senator Ernesto Maceda, who served as emcee for the program here, said the caravan was organized to thank Estrada's supporters throughout the country.
Maceda said Bataan -- through Dinalupihan, Orani, Mariveles, and Balanga -- was chosen as the first stop of the caravan because it had consistently supported the Estradas in their political endeavors.
Apart from Estrada, Villar, and Maceda, the delegation included Nacionalista Party stalwarts Gilbert Remulla (NP secretary general) and Bukidnon Congressman Teofisto Guingona III; United Opposition spokesman Adel Tamano; Makati Congresswoman Abigail Binay; and former First Lady Luisa “Loi” Estrada.
Like a political campaign, the atmosphere here has been fiesta-like, complete with baton-twirlers, musicians, and balloons.
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