‘Bayan Muna asked Erap for P40 M to protect GO votes’

The party-list group Bayan Muna had asked P40 million from ousted President Joseph Estrada to finance a poll watchdog to protect the votes of Genuine Opposition (GO) senatorial candidates and to deliver so-called command votes from supporters of the Left, an administration official claimed yesterday.

The administration official, who asked not to be named, said Nathaniel Santiago of Bayan Muna will allocate the funds from Estrada for the operational budget of Poll Count Watch (PCW).

However, the PCW’s main objective is to safeguard the votes of Bayan Muna and other allied leftist party-list groups and to raise funds for its operations, the official added.

The official said Santiago had asked oppositionist Renato Constantino to accompany him in meeting Estrada at his place of detention in Tanay, Rizal.

They came to Estrada’s resthouse on a Nissan van on Wednesday and talked with Estrada for about four hours starting at around 1 p.m., the official added.

It was not clear whether Estrada agreed to shell out the amount, but that the visitors appeared "pleased" after the meeting, the official said.

Reports said Santiago was asked to integrate the PCW with the Catholic Church’s Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), but that he refused.

Santiago wanted the PCW to operate independently to be able to build a mass base, reports added.

Estrada is awaiting a verdict from the Sandiganbayan on his plunder case while in detention in his resthouse in Tanay, Rizal. – Paolo Romero