Former President Joseph Estrada, who is gunning for the presidency in 2010, yesterday put an end to talk making the rounds that he is backing out of the presidential race to support the presidential bid of Liberal Party standard bearer, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.At the taping for the presidential forum Isang Tanong of GMA Network, the former president clarified, “I have declared that I am running for president and I will stick to my word. These rumors are only part of the campaign strategy of those who would like to seek my endorsement.”
This strategy of getting a presidential bet to withdraw on account of low poll ratings and getting that candidate to withdraw in his opponent’s favor, was utilized by the Barack Obama pollsters and pro-Obama mainstream media, to get then Democrat Party presidential aspirant during the primaries, Sen. Hillary Clinton
, to withdraw from the primaries and instead support the bid of Obama. It worked in favor of Obama, as polls, some of which were said to have been massaged to favor one candidate over the other, were picked up by the US media that were biased in favor of Obama, getting the public to perceive him as a very strong candidate.
The same strategy is apparently being applied by Philippine mainstream media and local pollsters favoring a presidential candidate.
Just as it is in the country today, with the surveys no longer being accompanied by important data with
which to cross check the survey results, a polling firm in the US was found to have fudged the poll figures to reflect a completely different “snapshot” of the public’s opinion on the candidates and their strength in the poll.
The former leader said he was unmoved by the latest popularity ratings showing him on the decline, even as he formally announced his bid for the presidency anew in 2010.
Estrada, the president before being ousted by a coup d’etat in January 2001 that catapulted then vice president Gloria Arroyo to power, said the results of surveys between March and April next year would be the more credible indicator for the elections next year.
“The latest survey does not affect me. It only means people have not yet decided whom to vote for. The elections are six months away. Between March and April, the surveys will more accurately indicate who they will vote for,” he said in an interview at the GMA network.
Estrada said he is well within his schedule for the 2010 elections, adding that it would be best if he would peak at the proper time.
“I want to peak between January and February when people have already concretely decided,” Estrada, who won as president with the biggest plurality of votes in 1998 but was ousted in a civilian-military revolt in 2001 on charges of graft and corruption.
Estrada also clarified that he is not running in 2010 for his personal vindication but only to pay his debt of gratitude to the Filipino masses who continued to support him even throughout his incarceration.
“I was already vindicated when I made my wife Loi and son Jinggoy run for the Senate and they were both voted by the masses. This proved to me that the masses still believed in me. even if I had already been incarcerated.
“I was further vindicated when certain members of the Catholic Church and even the late President Cory Aquino, who were both behind Edsa Dos, apologized in public for having participated in Edsa Dos. In the twilight of my life, I have no other goal but to give back, help the poor and be remembered as the man who championed the cause of the masses.”
Asked whether he was affected by his fall to number four in the latest Pulse Asia presidentiables survey, the former president said it was a blessing in disguise.
“Whoever is leading is the one who is usually attacked in the media by his opponents or other critics with various issues, whether true or false. So at this point, it is not a wise move to be peaking this early. The real gauge will be the surveys at around February or March next year,” Estrada said.
At the same time, Estrada said that food security has to be prioritized, and will be prioritized under an Estrada presidency.
“We need to address graft and corruption too but hunger is the most urgent problem that must be tackled. To allow our poor to go hungry is an act of negligence by the government that cannot be tolerated,” he said in answer to a question in the Isang Tanong Presidential Forum of the GMA Network what would be the first thing that he would do once elected president in 2010.
Citing statistics, Estrada expounded, “The most urgent problem in the country today is the hunger problem. As per the latest SWS Survey, 9.7 million families are already experiencing hunger. Aside from the sheer injustice of this consequence of government negligence, this also leads to crime as well as to graft and corruption. As the saying goes, ‘A hungry stomach knows no law.’”
Estrada said that he will prioritize the attainment of food security for the country in order to lower if not eradicate hunger in the country. He said that prioritizing agriculture is an effective means of building the economy, and that it was by strengthening the agricultural sector that the Estrada Administration in 1999 made the Philippines the first country in the region to survive the Asian Financial Crisis. With Jason Faustino and Tribune wires
Source: http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20091119hed3.html
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