MANILA Mayor and former President Joseph Estrada on Monday endorsed Senators Grace Poe and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as his bets for president and vice president in the May 9 elections.
He made the announcement during the proclamation rally of his entire ticket under the Partido ng Masang Pilipino Monday night at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila.
The 78-year-old Estrada supported Poe instead of his friend and political
ally Vice President Jejomar Binay, who was his running mate when he ran for president but lost to then senator Benigno Aquino III in 2010.
In the run-up to the May 2013 elections, Estrada and Binay formed the United Nationalist Alliance, with the former serving as chairman and the latter as president.
“Here before us tonight is a person who has ability and heart. She is a Filipino, a daughter, a wife, a mother. She is a friend of everyone. She has been with me in my fight as mayor, vice president and president. She has never abandoned me, so how can I abandon her?” Estrada told his supporters at the rally.
Poe thanked Estrada for the endorsement, referring to him by his nickname.
“Erap is a leader who embodies the ordinary Filipino. We are one with Erap that we should not be numb to the plight of our people,” Poe said.
Estrada’s support for Poe is expected to boost the candidacy of the senator, who has consistently led most opinion surveys.
Marcos also thanked Estrada for his support, saying Manila was in good hands with the incumbent mayor.
More than 3,000 supporters, clad in orange shirts and jackets, attended the rally which started around 2 p.m.
Liwasang Bonifacio was also the same venue where Estrada held his proclamation rally in 2013 and presented to the Manila electorate his urban renewal platform, with the aim of reclaiming the capital city’s lost glory and grandeur.
In less than three years, Estrada said, he managed to settle Manila’s more than P4.4-billion debts, including unpaid electricity and water utility bills, left by the immediately preceding administration; implemented massive infrastructure projects modernizing the city’s public service facilities, including hospitals, road networks, classrooms, low-cost housing, sports complex, parks and public markets; and successfully made Manila the Number 1 Most Competitive Highly Urbanized City in the country.
Under the policy “Bata’t Matanda, Alaga sa Maynila,” the city government provided comprehensive “womb-to-tomb” services starting from free medical care for all—from newborns to senior citizens, daily feeding programs for malnourished children, distribution of school supplies and uniforms for students, financial benefits for the elderly and centenarians, and even construction of a four-story columbarium for deceased indigents, he said.
Estrada vowed to build on the successes of his first term, especially in peace and order and social services.
Motorists and commuters encountered heavy traffic because of the road closure implemented by the Manila Police Traffic Enforcement Unit during the proclamation rally.
Estrada, who in the last May 2013 elections vowed he will serve the city for only one term to give way for his running mate Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, is seeking another term and was challenged by two opponents—former mayor Alfredo Lim and Manila 5th district Rep. Amado Bagatsing.
Estrada and former city councilor Shiela Honey Lacuna-Pangan, a candidate for vice mayor and daughter of former vice mayor Danilo Lacuna, are running under PMP, a political party that Estrada founded when he ran for president in 1998.
Also on Monday, Marcos said the founder of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., said the party did not officially endorse any candidate, contrary to reports that it would support Poe.
In a report over ABS-CBN website, Marcos said he was able to talk to Cojuangco, his godfather, who informed him that their political party “is open” to all the candidates, and that the endorsement for Poe and Marcos was not official.
NPC president Giorgiddi Aggabao earlier announced that the party had chosen Poe and Escudero for the presidential and vice presidential elections.
“That announcement, that was not official. It has no authorization from the leaders of the party,” Marcos said while campaigning in Tarlac.
The senator attended the flag-raising ceremony in San Manuel town on Monday. The town mayor, Benjamin Tesoro, a retired colonel and classmate of the senator in Scout Ranger training, said he could not say no to Marcos.
Tesoro, an NPC member, said that while they have been separated by political boundaries, no such divide exists in terms of their love for country and personal relations. He said Marcos is the godfather of his eldest child.
In Moncada town, Mayor Benito Aquino also said he would endorse the candidacy of Marcos.
Another NPC member, Camiling Mayor Neil Agustin promised to support Marcos. He joined Marcos in meeting the 61 barangay captains and their officials in Camiling Sports Complex.
Paniqui Mayor Miguel Cojuangco Rivilla, the second cousin of President Aquino, is also backing Marcos. Rivilla is running for vice governor of the province as an independent candidate.
Marcos told the crowd at the municipal hall that his family treats Rivilla like their youngest sibling. He said he got a warm reception in Tarlac, which is the home province of President Aquino. With Macon Ramos-Araneta