Erap tops El Shaddai mock polls

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Joseph Estrada, presidential candidate of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), together with his running mate Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, topped the mock polls conducted by the El Shaddai movement.

In a statement, Estrada’s spokesperson Margaux Salcedo said they were informed by former El Shaddai spokesman Mel Robles that Estrada got 520 votes from the 2,105 members of El Shaddai who participated in the mock polls held last May 1.

Salcedo said Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Manuel Villar came in second with 453 votes while Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III landed in third place with 263 votes. Lakas-Kampi-CMD bet Gilbert Teodoro garnered 65 votes.

In the vice presidential race, Salcedo said Binay was also first with 858 votes, LP vice presidential bet Mar Roxas came in second with 284 votes, and Sen. Loren Legarda of the NP ranked third with 204 votes.

“Those not mentioned got less than five votes or none at all,” Salcedo said.

Fighting chance

An elated Estrada said the El Shaddai bloc vote would again carry him to victory as it did in the May 1998 elections, where he got as much as 38 percent of the total votes that gave him the biggest winning margin in the country’s presidential poll history. 

“I have a very good fighting chance again with the El Shaddai behind me just like in 1998 when they carried me,” Estrada told The STAR last night.

Estrada, who placed second in the latest pre-election surveys of both the Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia, expressed confidence that the El Shaddai mock polls will give him the final push to victory.

“We’ll shoot up and increase my rating just like in 1998 where I got 38 percent of the total votes,” Estrada said.

Robles said half of the votes were “spoiled” ballots because the members either “over-voted” or committed other errors resulting in the cancellation of their ballots.

Robles also clarified that El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde had nothing to do with the results of the mock polls.

“Bro. Mike said he will not endorse anybody but will remain neutral,” Robles said, adding that at least 30 percent of El Shaddai members who are registered voters are still undecided on their choice for president because they are “still waiting for guidance from Bro. Mike.”

But Robles said Estrada’s winning the mock polls among El Shaddai members “will be helpful” to the former president’s bid to return to Malacañang.

He cited that the El Shaddai-backed Buhay party list group topped the 2007 elections with 1.2 million votes.

Velarde is the fifth nominee of the Buhay party-list in tomorrow’s elections.

‘Filipino masses didn’t leave me’

“I really thought that it was the end of my life when I was jailed. From president to prisoner. But the poor Filipino masses did not leave me. That is why today, I will not also leave you,” Estrada said before the 50,000 supporters of the PMP that attended the party’s miting de avance at the track and field oval of the University of Makati last Friday.

Estrada said he cannot repay his debt of gratitude to the poor Filipino people who have unconditionally supported him from being an actor until he turned politician.

Estrada will vote tomorrow morning at a polling precinct in San Juan.

In an interview with The STAR, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, who is also seeking another term as senator under the PMP, said his father will vote between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. at the Pedro Cruz Elementary School.

Estrada expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court’s decision to junk his petition to postpone the May 10 elections for 15 days to allow the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to prepare for manual counting.

“Various sectors have expressed fears that this chaos, confusion and turmoil may become so unmanageable that it could place the country in a state of emergency. In fact, some quarters have openly brought out the option of another people power,” Estrada said.

Estrada said the malfunction of some precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in Metro Manila and some provinces are “dismal and dreadful failures” in the Comelec’s performance of its constitutional duty to conduct free, honest, orderly and credible elections.

He said the 15-day postponement of elections would be much more desirable than a failure of elections.

More support

Binay, meantime, is gaining more support after 500 local officials and candidates from Luzon and Mindanao declared yesterday their full support for his bid.

On the other hand, the endorsement of Sen. Chiz Escudero of the candidacy of Aquino and Binay received support from the Muslim community.

The endorsement was included in the weekly prayer of the Muslims all over the country, where the Noynoy-Binay tandem was simultaneously announced in all mosques across the archipelago. It was addressed to all Islam devotees.

The call was made by Grand Imam Sheikh Padel Hassan, who also distributed his official pastoral letter to all his imams in the country, which was read yesterday before all worshippers. - With Marichu Villanueva, Delon Porcalla and Manny Galvez