http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20100118hed5.html
Even as they presently lead various surveys on Filipino voters’ preference as the country’s next president, both Senators Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino and Manuel Villar Jr. tried in vain to convince former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada to withdraw from the race and obtain his endorsement, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile revealed yesterday.
But Enrile, in an interview with radio dzBB, stressed that Estrada would never withdraw from the 2010 presidential race. “I’m very certain he will not back out. If they (Estrada’s rivals) expect him to back out, they’re mistaken. He is not going to withdraw. He will pursue his candidacy through the end,” Enrile said.
Enrile claimed that in separate instances, the camps of Aquino and Villar had approached Estrada not only to seek his support but also to consider the possibility of “giving way” to their presidential aspirations.
In the case of Aquino, Enrile said it was his siblings who approached Estrada and tried to convince him to withdraw from the presidential race in favor of Noynoy’s candidacy. “I don’t know how the meeting transpired. All I know that he, along with his sisters went to see Estrada,” he added.
Enrile made this revelation on the heels of speculations that Estrada had already given in to either Aquino’s or Villar’s camp, that he was just trying looking for the right opportunity to time his announcement of withdrawal from the race, and that Estrada would opt to act as a “king-maker”endorsing the presidential bid of one of his rivals,
“That’s what they, those who want to get the support of Estrada followers, (want) to happen. They’re trying to mislead the public. But it’s not going to happen because he will proceed with his candidacy,” Enrile said.
He added Estrada, informed of the recent political rumor about his alleged withdrawal from the race, merely laughed off the rumor and described him as “not bothered at all” by it.
Estrada, president-founder of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) which Enrile presently steers as party chairman emeritus, was described by Enrile as “remaining confident” of winning the 2010 presidential polls even if surveys show he’s lagging behind Aquino and Villar.
“He’s confident. Everywhere we go, he’s being mobbed,” Enrile said.
Enrile also told dzBB that it would be the height of political opportunism for a politician to leave partymates behind and hanging in the balance in order to pursue one’s political interest ba.
But Enrile would not blame either the camp of Villar’s or Aquino’s for wooing Estrada. He said Estrada still enjoyed the solid support of his followers, enough reason for the likes of Aquino and Villar to ask him to withdraw and back up their candidacy instead.
Pollsters have placed Estrada, also in the thick of a comeback bid for the presidency, third in various surveys with a solid following of about 15 percent of their respective sets of respondents.
With 33% of survey respondents, Villar is inching up behind Aquino whose popularity rating the Social Weather Station estimate to be within the neighborhood of 44 percent of possible votes.
Given these current survey ratings, Estrada’s 15 percent is thus deemed crucial and very significant – for the two leading bets – in the event of his reported withdrawal and possible endorsement.
It will also boost the presidential bid of former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, if ever Estrada decides to withdraw from the 2010 race and endorse Teodoro’s candidacy.
Unfortunately, Enrile said, “He (Estrada) turned down their (Aquino’s or Villar’s camp’s)request. He said he cannot accede to it because he is in the running.”
Enrile said those present in the meeting between Enrile and Aquino siblings could attest that the Aquinos tried to convince Estrada to withdraw from the race and instead throw support to the senator-presidentiable. Those present in the meeting were the ones who relayed the information to him, Enrile added,
It was not clear when the exact date of the meeting or if it was the same meeting Estrada had with the Aquinos sometime in Sept. last year.
Enrile merely said, based on his recollection that it was before Christmas.
As for Villar, Enrile said it was publicly known that his colleague was a frequent visitor of the ousted president when he was still under house arrest in Tanay, Rizal.
But even after Estrada’s release from detention, Villar was also often seen paying the former president a visit in his residence in Polk St., San Juan along with his wife, Las Pinas Rep. Cynthia Villar.
“They tried to talk him out of it (presidential race), I think. But he (Estrada) did not cave in,” he said.
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