Demonstrations cannot intimidate me: Estrada

Demonstrations cannot intimidate me: Estrada

MANILA (Agencies): Philippine President Joseph Estrada said on
Monday he was not intimidated by mounting opposition to his
proposal to amend the constitution.

"No amount of rallies can intimidate me," Estrada told radio
station DZMM, stressing that as the "father of the nation" he was
doing the right thing to "uplift the lives of the country's
poor."

"I will not be intimidated...even if they rally every day," he
declared.

He was referring to a massive protest rally led by former
president Corazon Aquino and Catholic church leader Cardinal
Jaime Sin, which gathered an estimated 50,000 people in the
capital on Friday calling for Estrada to junk the planned
amendments.

Estrada on Monday derided church-led protests against his plan
to change the constitution and said the Philippines' foremost
religious leader should focus on saving souls instead of leading
demonstrations.

"Maybe Cardinal Sin should concentrate on the spiritual and
moral values of our people," Estrada said, referring to Manila
Archbishop Cardinal Jaime Sin, who had called on Roman Catholics
to join the protest.

Estrada hit out at his critics before flying to the southern
island of Mindanao to bring his campaign for constitutional
change to poor areas representing his political stronghold.

He belittled Friday's protest march by an estimated 50,000
people in Manila's Makati financial district against his proposed
amendments as "a small rally" organized by the elite.

Critics fear a constituent assembly that would lead the
changes would also tinker with a provision limiting terms for
elected public officials including the president.

Those who attended the rally were mostly the rich and from
exclusive Catholic schools "who do not understand the true plight
of our people in the rural areas," Estrada said.

Estrada says he only wants to amend restrictive economic
provisions to encourage foreign investment and enable the
Philippines to compete with its Asian neighbors.

But Sin and other critics, including former president Corazon
Aquino, expressed fears that a special assembly Estrada plans to
call to amend the constitution might also scrap a provision that
limits the president to a single six-year term.

Framers of the 1987 constitution imposed the limit to prevent
the emergence of another dictator like the late Ferdinand Marcos.

In speeches in Cagayan de Oro and Davao cities, his first
stops on his three-day provincial tour, Estrada said he had no
hidden political agenda.

Sounding less combative, he reiterated his offer to meet
Aquino and Sin to discuss issues, "but not in the streets."

"Let us let the democratic process take its natural course. I
will also consult with all sectors of our society nationwide to
determine their true feelings and, as I have always done in the
past, I will defer to the will of the people," he added.

He said the protests were creating divisiveness in the country
and were premature.

"We don't like to destroy the image of our country before
foreign investors," he said.

Political analysts said the debate over the constitution was
threatening to polarize the country and divert attention from the
immediate problem of economic recovery. They urged Estrada to
reach out to his critics to prevent a political crisis.

"If this were a chess game, we have arrived at a very complex
position," political analyst Alex Magno wrote in the Manila
Standard. "Any weak move could result in the rapid deterioration
of the administration's position.

"That, in turn, will deny the whole country the effective and
credible leadership it direly needs to meet the challenges of the
new century," Magno added.