Sorry, Cory won’t endorse 2004 bet

Sorry folks, Tita Cory has no "manok" for next year’s elections.

Having had her share of politics during the turbulent 1980s, former President Corazon Aquino said yesterday she will not endorse any candidate for next year’s presidential elections.

Speaking before a gathering of the Cartwheel Foundation at the Ateneo de Manila University, Mrs. Aquino said she will not be endorsing any candidate next year because she does not want to be distracted from her civic projects.

The former president told volunteers who are helping educate indigenous groups that politics has often distracted her from various civic projects.

She said she has had enough of politics and now wants focus on promoting her "People Power People" project which seeks to recognize 20 model non-government organizations and foundations and replicate them all over the country.

Aquino, whose "Midas touch" is believed to have been a key to the electoral success of her successor former President Fidel Ramos, also said it was time to set aside politics and promote volunteerism to help develop the country.

Ramos, who campaigned against the likes of former First Lady Imelda Marcos, businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., former Senate president Jovito Salonga and the late former Speaker Ramon Mitra Jr., won the 1992 presidential race although he received only 24 percent of the votes.

Ramos, Aquino’s defense secretary, was then competing with former

Executive Secretary Oscar Orbos for the blessing of Aquino, who refused to run for re-election. Mrs. Aquino chose to endorse her defense chief.