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Sunday, May 09, 2004
Arroyo increases poll lead, calls for end to 'hatred'
MANILA -- President Arroyo Saturday increased her poll lead at the closing of the election campaign and appealed for an end to the "air of hate" hanging over the country.
Some 43 million Filipinos are eligible to vote in the Monday polls to elect a new leader.
A final poll by the independent Social Weather Stations (SWS) group gave Arroyo 37 percent of the vote for Monday's elections, compared to 30 percent for her main rival Fernando Poe.
The last SWS survey two weeks ago had Arroyo with a five-percent point lead over Poe, who ended a miserable campaign Saturday with a rain-hit rally in Manila, which drew less than 10,000 supporters.
Aides for Poe, who draws most of his support from the poor and has alarmed financial markets with his poor grasp of issues, had predicted a crowd of up to two million.
As fears of violent unrest and unsubstantiated coup rumors continued to swirl around the Southeast Asian nation, Arroyo called for unity and warned all members of the military to stay out of politics.
"Let us now clear the air of hate and recrimination and prepare for an election that is befitting our most cherished democratic traditions," said Arroyo as she campaigned in slum areas near Malacañang.
Arroyo, who was the victim of a failed military rebellion by junior officers in July last year, also called on armed forces chiefs to "summarily punish any military personnel engaged in partisan activities."
The presidential polls are only the third since dictator Ferdinand Marcos was forced out 18 years ago, and the fragile democracy has been repeatedly tested by coups.
Coup fears
The head of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, Friday expressed grave fears after the church was contacted by a group of unnamed colonels who alleged attempts were underway to rig the polls.
The warning came after Arroyo's camp accused the opposition of planning violence as a pretext for a coup.
Sen. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, implicated in at least eight coup attempts over two decades, went on television Friday to deny any looming plot.
Col. Daniel Lucero, spokesperson of the Armed Forces, also denied the existence of a destabilization plan, and said the Army has not monitored plans of military and police supporters of Poe to create chaos after the Monday polls.
He added that AFP chief Narciso Abaya already instructed soldiers to remain neutral. Those who will join political activities will reportedly face sanctions.
This amid allegations that the administration is also planning massive fraud in Monday's elections, with ballots with the name of 'Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as president' allegedly disseminated in the provinces and cities, including Davao City as early as last week.
Lucero, however, said the Army will continue monitoring for signs of massive cheating during the election period.
No probe
Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it has no plans to probe the allegations that some military personnel are plotting massive and organized cheating on May 10.
Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. dared Saturday the church-based group, the coalition for Honest Orderly and Peaceful Elections (Hope), to reveal the identities of the young officers who approached the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and exposed the alleged plans of massive fraud.
He said the 'exposé' was simply done to spread terror and to destabilize the government.
This, after the coalition for Hope also implicated some Comelec officials are part of the grand plan.
"For all you know kaya ginagawa yan para hindi na kami makapagtrabaho ng ibang bagay (they are only doing that so we cannot attend to other matters)," Abalos said.
Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra, however, said he would look into the allegations to determine whether some people from Comelec are conniving with scrupulous persons.
"I will validate the information and if there are really some Comelec personnel involved, then they should be exposed and punished," Borra said.
Antonio delos Reyes, convenor of the coalition of Hope, and former Trade undersecretary Ernesto Ordonez earlier disclosed that some ranking military personnel asked them to be the intermediaries in meeting the bishops to bare the plans of the alleged massive plan to cheat.
Abalos also appealed to their critics to stop drumming up the issues and attacking them, and instead help them ensure that Monday's election would be clean, honest and orderly.
'Pray'
Meanwhile, Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla urged the faithful to pray more for the coming polls.
In a statement, Capalla said in these trying times, only the power of prayers are the best weapon to avert any possible moves to ruin the elections.
"Sinful and death-dealing thoughts and deeds have already marred the electoral process. There are destabilizing plans allegedly being prepared. We have prayed, and are still praying that our country will be spared from anarchy and chaos," Capalla's statement read.
The removal of ex-president Joseph Estrada in a military-backed uprising in January 2001 remains the cause of much bitterness. Many poor believe their champion was unlawfully pushed out by vice president Arroyo and the elite.
Estrada, who remains under arrest at a military camp charged with fraud, appealed Saturday for peaceful elections and urged a vote against efforts "by the elite to legitimize their destruction of the rule of law".
Arroyo, 57, a US-trained economist and key Asian ally of the United States, has presented herself as a safe pair of hands for the economy and has the support of big business in her bid for a popularly-mandated six-year term.
Poe, 64, is a close friend of Estrada and has portrayed himself as an honest man unsullied by the dirty politics in the country. Most Filipinos believe Estrada is financing Poe in exchange for a pardon.
A huge security operation involving 17,000 extra police and troops in Manila alone has swung into action amid fears of attacks by the Al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah groups.
More than 90 people have been killed during the election campaign, three in a shoot-out in the north on Saturday. Most killings have involved local disputes or have been linked to Communist rebels.
Some 43 million voters in the country will elect a president, vice president, 12 Senators, 200 Congressmen and 17,000 local posts.
Five candidates are running for president. The SWS poll gave former police chief Panfilo Lacson 11 percent, independent reformer Raul Roco six percent and television evangelist Eddie Villanueva four percent.
The election battle has been fought largely on personality, ignoring pressing issues such as poverty, a looming debt crisis, Muslim and Communist insurgencies and birth control. Ben O. Tesiorna/Mari Neri/AFP
(May 9, 2004 issue)
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