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Sunday, May 09, 2004
Presidential candidates in unity mass after bitter campaign (2:19 p.m.)
MANILA -- After an acrimonious three-month campaign, President Arroyo and her election rivals prayed for honest and peaceful polls at a unity mass Sunday.
The mass was sponsored by Corazon Aquino, the first Philippine president after the toppling of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, and followed warnings by the Roman Catholic Church of possible mass fraud in Monday's polls.
"After the elections, I hope we can get together for the common good of the Filipino people," Aquino said before the service.
"There are always accusations. The important thing is for the Filipino people to do something to prevent cheating," she said.
However, while the five candidates were civil with each other as they sat in alphabetical order in the front pew of Manila's San Agustin cathedral, the tension was palpable.
Arroyo, wearing a tan trouser-suit, fixed her gaze at the altar and avoided eye contact or conversation with breakaway opposition candidate Panfilo Lacson, who accused of her plundering state funds for her campaign.
Lacson was sandwiched between Arroyo and Fernando Poe Jr., a popular film star and the main opposition presidential candidate who is staring at defeat because former police chief Lacson refused to unite their candidacies.
Poe ignored Lacson but chatted to Sen. Raul Roco, whose serious illness midway through the 90-day campaign saw half his supporters migrate to Arroyo, increasing her chances of victory.
Television evangelist Eduardo Villanueva sat on the right and broke protocol by arriving last, although he blamed Arroyo by saying her convoy forced him off the road.
Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, the archbishop of Manila, in a sermon called on the 43 million voters of the Southeast Asian nation to turn their backs on violence and unite after the election.
"In destabilization, it is the poor who suffer most... Please spare the poor from more suffering," said Rosales.
The cathedral was packed with about 800 people -- members of religious groups as well as followers of the candidates -- and some of whom were still wearing political slogans from the campaign that ended on Saturday.
As well as Aquino, former general Fidel Ramos, who replaced her as president in 1992, also attended the mass.
Poe's friend and fellow movie star Joseph Estrada, the winner in the 1998 election, was absent as he is in detention awaiting trial for corruption after he was toppled in a military-backed revolt three years ago. AFP |
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