Erap on Pulse Asia poll: It’s a wake-up call for me

President Estrada said yesterday that results of a recent survey by Pulse Asia Inc. were a wake-up call for him.

In that survey, close to 40 percent of the respondents who finished college — regardless of which economic class they belong to — want Mr. Estrada to step down.

"This is a wake-up call for me," the President said after Felipe Miranda, president of Pulse Asia, briefed the Chief Executive and members of the Economic Coordinating Council on the results of the survey yesterday.

"I think I have to work harder," Mr. Estrada said.

"Things have not changed ever since I ran for the presidency in 1998," Mr. Estrada said, referring to the results of the survey that showed most of Metro Manila’s elite families want him out of office.

"I’ll just pray for those people to be enlightened," he said. "I’ll leave my fate to God and to the sense of fairness and justice of the senators."

But even if all of the rich in Manila are against him, more than half of the respondents are still supporting Mr. Estrada.

"This came despite more than two months of bombardment of the tri-media … and despite throwing the ‘toilet bowl on my face’… I still enjoy the support of the majority," Mr. Estrada said.

The clamor for Mr. Estrada’s resignation was sparked by allegations by Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson that the President had received over P400 million in payoffs from illegal gambling operators and P130 million from tobacco excise taxes intended for that province.

The allegations led to Mr. Estrada’s impeachment by the House of Representatives last Nov. 13. The impeachment trial at the Senate will begin today after the Senate denied an appeal by Mr. Estrada’s lawyers to dismiss the corruption charges on technical grounds.

The President then appealed to his political enemies as well as his supporters not to coerce the people to join their respective rallies.

He said the Pulse Asia survey had already shown that 70 percent of Metro Manila residents do not agree with protest rallies.

"My appeal to them, as the survey had shown, is not to coerce the people, especially Bro. Mike Velarde of the El Shaddai Catholic Charismatic Movement and the schoolchildren who have nothing to do with politics," he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs told the diplomatic community that the impeachment trial is just a part of a "working democracy."

Speaking before the fourth International Conference of New or Restored Democracies, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Lauro Baja Jr. said "the democratic ideals" of the people power revolt remains enshrined in the Constitution.

"The Philippines has a working democracy. Our democracy provides us stability and serves as our anchor in uncertain times. Our support for democratic ideals and the practice of the democratic process will undoubtedly see us through whatever crisis we are confronted with," Baja said.

He told delegates in Benin, Africa that the Constitution was only being put to test with the impeachment process.

He called on fellow democracies to continue to strive for free speech, freedom of religion and worship, freedom of assembly and other basic human rights. – With Aurea Calica