Puwersa to file complaint vs PPC over ads

Opposition senatorial candidates will file a complaint against the People Power Coalition (PPC) before the Commission of Elections (Comelec) for placing advertisements in newspapers and on radio and television linking them to the May 1 riots at the gates of Malacañang.

Former Press Secretary Ricardo "Dong" Puno, a Puwersa ng Masa (PnM) senatorial bet, said in a radio interview yesterday the administration coalition is behind the negative commercials.

"This will backfire on them," he said.

President Arroyo asked the PPC’s "private sponsors" to pull out the controversial advertisements and stressed her administration had nothing to do with the ads.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao told reporters yesterday Mrs. Arroyo called up the advertisement’s "private sponsors" after she saw the ads in newspapers and on television.

"She wants the message that now should be a time for healing, that this government is not combative," he said. Her priority would be to reach out to the poor who had been misled into joining the demonstration."

Tiglao said Mrs. Arroyo has been informed that the "13-0 movement" and other "private sponsors" had paid for the negative advertisements.

"We would like to emphasize Malacañang had nothing to do with this ad," he said. "The PPC has their own political machinery on publicity campaign and this ad was put up by volunteer organizations."

In Legazpi City, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said in a regional broadcast that he would sue the people behind the newspaper advertisement and television and radio commercials portraying him as unfit for public office.

"This is apparently a black propaganda against me and my candidacy," he said. "I already told my lawyers to file the appropriate charges upon verification before the Comelec."

Enrile said his political detractors used in the television commercial a video footage wherein he was shown saying in jest to another senator that he is worth P11 billion.

Enrile said he will find out from the Comelec the names of the people who had financed the ads, and whether these were part of the campaign time allotted for the administration coalition.

In an official statement, ousted President Joseph Estrada said yesterday Malacañang’s abrupt pull out of its "attack ads" shows that the strategy had "boomeranged" on the administration candidates.

"Malacañang’s sudden decision to pull out these negative ads must have been reached after it realized that instead of alienating the masa, these ads have all the more solidified their votes for the Puwersa ng Masa candidates," he said.

Estrada said the advertisements have shown voters that the Arroyo administration will spare no effort, including declaring a "state of rebellion" and arbitrarily arresting opposition candidates, to thwart the people’s will and derail the PnM’s landslide victory.

"These people think they can deceive our voters through these ads," he said. "What they do not know is that our voters are turned off by the lies that this administration has been peddling just so it can rob the opposition of its imminent victory in next week’s polls."

A PnM spokesman said P150 million worth of funds from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office may have been used to finance the negative advertisements against their senatorial candidates.

The Comelec should immediately stop the publishing and airing of these advertisements because they violate the Fair Elections Act, the spokesman added. – Marichu Villanueva, Aurea Calica, Cet Dematera, Eva de Leon