Estrada rages at

Bad reviews got him on the cover of Newsweek.

President Estrada finally landed on the cover of Newsweek magazine, but the coverage in the May 8 issue was far from flattering. Headlined "Estrada's Crisis," its blurb was, "Can the President Outsmart Islamic Rebels -- And Get His Country Back on Track?"

"Ang sama, tarantado talaga," the President rued, referring to the write-up. "They just interviewed the other side."

He noted that most of those interviewed were "topak" or insane and were clearly against him.

However, Mr. Estrada had a ready answer to the Newsweek blurb on whether he could resolve the crises in Mindanao and turn the economy around by 2004.

"Of course I never refuse a challenge and I always accept a challenge," he told The STAR.

The four-page article entitled "Fall From Grace" was written by Brook Larmer and Filipina journalist Marites Vitug. A separate two-page article on the Abu Sayyaf hostage-taking was also written by Vitug and T.J. Tan.

But even if the articles were written after exclusive interviews with the President, Mr. Estrada lamented that his side was hardly presented.

"They (Newsweek) never asked me about those things," he said referring to statements attributed to him defending his administration for helping turn around the country's economy.

He added that the magazine even got its figures wrong on the alleged funds diversion in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Newsweek in its introduction said: "For a man whose presidency has stumbled on moral issues, the Philippines' Joseph Estrada found refuge in an unlikely place last month: a Roman Catholic Church."

The magazine described the President as having a "droopy mustache and hangdog eyes" during moments of a Mass said in honor of his birthday during which priests asked the people to pray for his success.

The article traces a "series of debilitating scandals" that dragged presidential popularity down in recent months, as well as documents a spate of hostage-taking incidents in the south by the Abu Sayyaf that have grabbed international headlines.

Foreign investors were reportedly "alarmed by the new levels of corruption" and were staying away from the Philippines.

"Estrada's style -- a mixture of cronyism and government by decree --is raising questions about the strength of the country's democratic institutions," it stated.

But it ended with a slight ray of hope, and a pitch too for prayer power: "In the meantime, they (Filipino people) have little alternative but to pray that Estrada can, like his movie roles, be a hero in the end."

In last week's edition, the magazine had a back-page interview with the President titled, "The Clock Ticks for Estrada."