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.