MANILA, Philippines?Joseph Estrada sees a battle royal between himself and Vice President Noli de Castro if they both make a pitch for No. 1 in the 2010 presidential election.

Estrada Tuesday told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that only De Castro could rival him when it came to winning the support of the Filipino poor, who, he claimed, ?comprise 80-90 percent of the voters.?

?Only Noli and I have masa (mass) appeal,? the deposed President said in a telephone interview. ?I can feel that he also appeals to the D and E sectors.?

In case both he and De Castro seek the presidency, ?Noli would be a tough candidate to beat,? Estrada said, adding:

?He would make for a formidable opponent.?

The two men have similar backgrounds. Both enjoyed massive media exposure?Estrada as a movie star and De Castro as a radio/TV journalist?before entering politics.

Estrada started his political career as a mayor of the municipality of San Juan and went on to become a senator. De Castro ran for senator as an independent candidate in 2001. He topped the race with more than 16 million votes.

De Castro was elected vice president in 2004. Like him, Estrada served as vice president for six years before running for president in 1998 and winning by a landslide.

Estrada, who was ousted in 2001, was tried for and convicted of plunder, and was swiftly pardoned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has been threatening to run again for president in 2010 if the opposition fails to unite behind a standard-bearer.

He has commissioned a ?legal study? to determine whether he could do so, and was told, he said, that the constitutional ban on the reelection of presidents did not apply to him.

Substitution

De Castro himself has raised the sinister possibility of candidate substitution in the 2010 polls.

He called on lawmakers to revisit an election law provision that allows for the substitution of any candidate in the event of his/her death, disqualification, or withdrawal from an election.

On radio on Saturday and in an interview Tuesday, De Castro cited as an example the possibility of Estrada filing a certificate of candidacy for president in 2010 and being replaced by his son, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, in case the Supreme Court disqualifies him from running at the last minute.

?What will happen is that the votes for President Estrada will be counted for Jinggoy because the official ballots with Estrada?s name on it have been printed,? De Castro said in Filipino.

This has happened in local elections, with a candidate from a well-known political clan being killed or deciding to withdraw, and subsequently being replaced by a member of the family, according to De Castro.

?What if a candidate actually has no plan to run, but being more famous than a son or daughter, he files the certificate of candidacy? And then after the official ballots had been printed, he suddenly withdraws, and the votes go to his son or daughter? Is that how it goes?? De Castro said.

Still looking

Estrada admitted that he was still looking for an opposition candidate with mass appeal.

?Maybe it?s too early to say. Tingnan natin (Let?s see) by August or September,? he said, adding that he was also relying on survey results to study the ?winnability? of opposition candidates.

If he does decide to run for president again, he has a battery of lawyers who are prepared to defend him from those questioning his eligibility, Estrada said.

?We are prepared [to fight] all the way to the Supreme Court,? he said.

In the meantime, Estrada said, he would continue with his sorties to the provinces to feel ?the pulse of the people.?

?It?s like [the 1998 campaign] all over again, but even more intense,? the man said.

He said the people would weep upon seeing him because they pitied him for being detained without a crime: ?They cry, naaawa sila sa akin. I was in prison, wala naman akong kasalanan.?

No-el

De Castro also said all talk about a no-election (No-el) scenario in 2010 was lamentable, and that the people would not allow it.

?Our government is a government of laws. We continue to uphold our Constitution. A No-el scenario smacks of illegality and threatens a public outcry,? he said.

De Castro said the people should be vigilant in order to preserve the democracy that they had fought to achieve.

?I will stand with the people to make sure that there will be elections and that the Constitution will be followed and upheld,? he said.