by Gerry Baldo (The Daily Tribune)
http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20100225hed5.htmlMAGALANG, Pampanga — The alleged bailiwick of President Arroyo in Pampanga is not, after all, solid for her.
This as former Pampanga Vice Gov. Cielo Macapagal-Salgado, Arroyo’s half-sister, yesterday announced that she is going to be the campaign manager of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), the political party of former President Joseph Estrada, in the province of Pampanga.
“We are confident that we are going to win,” Macapagal-Salgado said in an interview at the Dee Hwa Liong College in Magalang where the standard-bearer of the PMP and some of the members of his senatorial slate stopped en route from Arayat to Mabalacat, Angeles City and to the Erap Housing Project in San Jose del Monte in Bulacan where a big rally was held.
Together with Estrada were former Negros Occidental Rep. Apolinario “Jun” Lozada, Senate President Juan Ponce
Enrile, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, former Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad and ZTE broadband whistle blower Jose de Venecia III.
Described by President Estrada as the “original daughter” of the late former President Diosdado Macapagal, Macapagal-Salgado said the people of Pampanga will still support the former president.
“I think the people will still support him,” she told reporters covering the PMP campaign sorties here.
She added Estrada has done much to the province and that the people will not forget that.
“President Erap did many things for Pampanga,” she stressed.
Estrada, in a separate interview, agreed with Macapagal-Salgado even as he took notice of the warm reception they got from the townsfolk of the place where he and friend, actor Fernando Poe Jr., filmed some of the best movies of their lives.
“I was surprised at the reception of the people, I didn’t expect that,” Estrada said as he recalled the filming of Kumander Alibasbas and Pedrong Taruk.
“During the height of my (acting) career with (Fernando Poe Jr.), our movies were strongest in the theaters here,” he said.
Macapagal-Salgado said Estrada won here during the 1998 elections.
She added she has known President Estrada since she was a young girl.
Relatedly, as the country marks the 24th anniversary of the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolt, President Estrada gave special praise to Enrile’s role in the peaceful revolution that toppled the regime of the late strongman former President Ferdinand Marcos.
In a speech before students, Estrada extolled the heroism and leadership exhibited by Enrile during the tense days of Edsa 1, and said the Senate president deserved to be called the true hero of Edsa 1.
Estrada’s camp also appealed to all sectors to also remember the “other” genuine people power event which erupted after a conspiracy toppled a duly elected president and which underscored the power of the masses, Edsa lll.
The Estrada camp said like the first Edsa revolt, the 2001 Edsa lll was a true outpouring of the people’s will, marked by a large representation of the poor and marginalized whose anger erupted after witnessing the disrespectful treatment of a duly elected chief executive who was robbed of a chance to prove his innocence before the Senate impeachment tribunal, and later arrested in a shameful and highly publicized manner.
Meanwhile, the Magdalo Group yesterday endorsed the candidacy of Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar with the condition of his not forging an alliance with Arroyo, adopting the advocacy of the mutinous organization and allow its detained chairman, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, to freely serve the government.
Former Air Force Lt. Ashley Acedillo, spokesman of the Magdalo Group, also announced that the group is endorsing the vice presidential run of Liberal Party’s (LP) Sen. Manuel Roxas II.
According to Acedillo, Villar agreed to all the conditions.
There are persistent reports of alleged “unholy” alliance between Villar and Arroyo despite the administration’s fielding of former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. as standard-bearer of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD party.
Acedillo said the decision was made after consultations with the group’s 400 national and local chapters nationwide, composed of 55,000 members. Mario J. Mallari, Angie M. Rosales, Gina P. Elorde
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