Estrada on ‘God Save the King’ plan: It’s not our script

President Estrada threw out yesterday the allegations of former President Fidel Ramos that Malacañang had drawn up a public relations plan known as "God Save the King" to prop up the image of the Chief Executive.

In Nueva Ecija, Mr. Estrada cautioned his audience, which included provincial Gov. Tomas Joson, against disinformation being spread by the political opposition and anti-Estrada groups who are doing everything to force him to step down.

"It (public relations project) did not come from us," he said in Muñoz yesterday.

On the other hand, Press Secretary Ricardo Puno told reporters yesterday the supposed "God Save the King" project is part of the disinformation efforts of anti-Estrada groups.

"Obviously there are again people making this disinformation," he said. "Let me just make this clear, we have no such plan and that much less than the Office of the Press Secretary has anything to do with that kind of crazy plan."

However, Puno said Cheryl Gimenea, personal secretary of Mr. Estrada, must explain why she was identified as the one circulating copies of the alleged plan in Cebu last Nov. 1.

"Obviously, we must talk with Cheryl and ask her where she got it," he said. "I can tell you that that is not a plan of the OPS (Office of the Press Secretary). There has never been such a plan. I personally will not agree with any kind of plan like that."

Ramos told reporters last Monday the alleged "God Save the King" public relations project intended to link him and Maj. Gen. Jose Almonte, his former national security adviser, to a plot to kill Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson, who had precipitated the present political crisis when he accused Mr. Estrada of receiving hundreds of millions of pesos in bribes from jueteng operators.

Ramos said the plan called for:

• Payments to editors and columnists in newspapers to counter negative publicity.

• Orchestrated announcements of support from businessmen and politicians.

• Presentation of the corruption charges as a "class war" conspiracy of the elite against the popular Estrada.

• Use of delaying tactics to stall the impeachment trial in the hope that the public loses interest.

Ramos said the 20-point crisis-management program, dated Oct. 12, 2000, was allegedly designed to avert "a real risk that congressional support will be lost thus making impeachment a real possibility."

"Previous attempts to discredit Chavit Singson has not achieved its goal... The initial Senate hearing did not seem to erode the Singson allegations... This crisis is therefore recommended in order to arrest the erosion of support for the President and to stop the clamor for his resignation," read an excerpt from the public relations project allegedly drawn up by Malacañang. –Marichu Villanueva, Jose Aravilla