Estrada claims victory three days before RP elections
Estrada claims victory three days before RP elections
MANILA (Agencies): Vice President Joseph Estrada, the main
opposition presidential candidate, claimed victory yesterday,
three days before elections to choose a successor to President
Fidel Ramos.
"It's all over but the counting," Estrada said. "I think I
will win because all the surveys show I am leading."
The respected Social Weather Stations survey organization this
week said Estrada solidified his lead with a 33 percent support
rating, 18 percentage points ahead of his closest rival, ruling
party candidate House Speaker Jose de Venecia.
Estrada has dominated the 11-candidate race since January.
"It's going to be an honest and orderly election, but we have
to be vigilant. We can't afford a confrontation," Estrada said.
Estrada spoke with reporters as he arrived for an open air
mass for his Struggle of the Nationalist Filipino Masses party at
Pinaglabanan Shrine, dedicated to Filipino revolutionaries who
won a major battle against Spanish colonial forces a century ago
in suburban San Juan.
The former movie heartthrob, who has admitted to womanizing,
gambling and heavy drinking in the past, was accompanied by
popular local actor Richard Gomez.
About 2,000 people gathered at the shrine in San Juan,
Estrada's hometown. As he waded through the crowd, some women
tried to kiss him while others asked for his signature on their
shirts and campaign calendars.
Some business groups worry that Estrada, a college dropout
whose poor English has often been the butt of jokes, does not
have the ability to sustain the country's economic growth
established under Ramos.
On Thursday, Estrada visited the Philippine Stock Exchange and
tried to quell businessmen's fears, saying his administration
would be "investor-friendly."
In a radio interview, Estrada repeated his campaign promise of
developing agriculture and ensuring food security, and restoring
law and order within six months in his presidency.
Later yesterday, influential Cardinal Jaime Sin led an
ecumenical prayer at the Manila Cathedral attended by nuns,
priests, Buddhist monks, Moslem holymen and member of a tribal
group who slit the throat of a chicken as an offering for a
peaceful vote.
After the prayers, children opened imitation ballot boxes to
free white doves symbolizing peaceful elections.
De Venecia, Ramos' handpicked candidate, received 15 percent
support in the SWS survey, which had a margin of error of 3
percentage points. He has a reputation as a wheeler-dealer, but
is credited with mustering congressional support for Ramos'
economic reform agenda.
There have been 26 deaths so far in the campaign, but it is
the most peaceful in the Philippines long history of violent
political change.
Earlier in the day, a helicopter carrying an opposition
congressional candidate in central Leyte island was attacked by
gunfire when it landed after distributing political flyers.
Officials earlier said two were hurt, but the Air
Transportation Office later said all four aboard escaped without
injury.
In local financial markets investors cast aside jitters about
the possibility of an Estrada presidency. The Manila stock
market's main index ended nearly one percent higher at 2,209.96.
on what was the last trading day before polling.
The peso also ended higher at 39.61 to the dollar against
Thursday's 39.86, having hit a day high of 39.30.
"People are accepting the possibility that Erap could be the
next president," a trader in a foreign brokerage said.
In his home province in northern Pangasinan, President Fidel
Ramos, continued campaigning for de Venecia.