Sick mom forces Erap to leave rally

Former President Joseph Estrada yesterday left the interfaith anti-Charter change (Cha-cha) rally in haste after receiving calls from doctors that his mother, Mary Ejercito, was in “very bad shape,” Estrada’s spokeswoman Margaux Salcedo said yesterday.

Salcedo, in a telephone interview with The STAR, said Estrada received a call that the health situation of Mrs. Ejercito had gone from bad to worse.

“All his brothers and sisters were already in the hospital and he had to rush from Makati back to the San Juan hospital,” Salcedo said.

Salcedo said Estrada’s sister, Dr. Pilarica Ejercito, told her that Doña Mary developed some problems in her blood and has to undergo blood transfusion.

Earlier, Estrada maintained that he will oppose Cha-cha before President Arroyo’s term ends in 2010.

“This administration has deprived the Filipino masses of their chosen leader not just once, when they ousted me, but twice, when they cheated FPJ (Fernando Poe Jr.) in the 2004 elections,” he said.

The former president said he will fight any attempt to extend Mrs. Arroyo’s term beyond 2010.

“We will not allow the people to be deprived of a duly elected president a third time. We cannot and will not allow GMA, nor these power-hungry congressmen, to stay in power beyond 2010 through Charter change,” Estrada said.

He said any changes in the Constitution can only be done after 2010 and emphasized the dangers of having it before that date.

“If Cha-cha is allowed now, who will rewrite the Constitution, these administration congressmen? We cannot entrust the future of our country to corrupt congressmen,” Estrada said.

“Congress, as an institution, has failed and the people have no choice but to represent themselves. That is why this rally has become necessary and that is why former President Estrada will be there, to march in unity with members of civil society, religious groups, militant groups and other sectors against Charter change,” Salcedo said.