Erap backs Grace Poe’s Senate bid

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Joseph Estrada said yesterday he would unconditionally support the senatorial bid of former Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) chair Grace Poe-Llamanzares in the May elections.

Estrada said he would not take it against Llamanzares if she could not join the grand proclamation rallies of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) in Cebu and Bohol on Feb. 12 and 13, respectively.

Llamanzares, daughter of Estrada’s late best friend and movie actor Fernando Poe Jr.  is a common candidate of UNA and the administration’s coalition Liberal Party (LP).

“As far as I am concerned that is not an issue,” Estrada said about the possibility that Poe would not show up at UNA’s grand Cebu rally.

He said unlike LP, UNA would not impose restrictions on her attending LP rallies.

“Maybe they are afraid of us. We may be stronger than them,” Estrada said.

The former president said UNA members and its three-man executive committee – composed of himself, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile – would meet to get a consensus on what to do with their two other guest candidates, Senators Francis Escudero and Loren Legarda.

Estrada said UNA would have to consider the opinion of its supporters and members should Escudero and Legarda not show up at their sorties.

On Feb. 12, UNA’s nine exclusive senatorial candidates, along with Binay, Enrile and Estrada, will lead a motorcade and whistle-stop tour from Metro Cebu to Maritima Heritage ground. The grand rally will start at 5 p.m. in the same venue.

On Feb. 13, they will conduct a similar activity in Tubigon, Calape, Loon, Maribojoc, Baliliban and Carmen, all in Bohol. At 6 p.m. of the same day, they will hold a grand rally at the City Square, Tagbilaran City.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Alan Cayetano is hoping the Commission on Elections will be able to conduct glitch-free and clean polls in May.

Cayetano, a re-electionist, said he was not satisfied with the results of the recent mock polls, which indicated the system might be flawed.

He wants simultaneous mock elections held in three to five areas in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao in order to test the system.               

“We have to do the simulation or mock elections about 45-50 days before the election so that they have enough time to adjust if needed,” he said. – With Christina Mendez