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Manila: The old charisma of jailed former president Joseph Estrada and the magic of former president Corazon Aquino, major endorsers of the opposition senatorial candidates, will be tested in the May 14 election, observers said.
Estrada has not changed his focus on a hate campaign against President Gloria Arroyo, even though he failed from 2005 to 2006 to rally the people to call for the ouster of Arroyo for alleged election fraud in 2004.
His hate campaign is boosted mainly by his efforts to clear himself of the shame of his ouster and the filing of a $78 million (Dh 286 million) plunder case against him in 2001.
Estrada is not worried that his hate-campaign could boomerang on him, or that it could taint the image of candidates.
Aquino, on the other hand, has endorsed her son, Benigno Jr, for the senate. She belongs to the Cojuangco clan, which owns one of the biggest haciendas of sugar plantations in the Philippines. She pushed for the implementation of the country's land reform programme in 1987, but exempted sugar plantations from being broken up.
Her son is not making good in the surveys, prompting him to say, "President Arroyo is out to embarrass my mother by making sure that I lose in the May 14 elections."
I'm not surprised my phone is bugged: Aquino
Telephone technicians found a bugging device attached to a telephone wire in the residence of former president Corazon Aquino in suburban Quezon City, authorities said yesterday.
Police officials said the "crude" and "illegally connected" device was connected to Aquino's telephone line without permission from the Philippine Long Distance Company, the country's major telecom firm.
Radio station dzBB said PLDT linemen discovered the device which was attached to a tape recorder at 4pm on Wednesday.
The technicians presented the equipment to Aquino who later reported this to the police. Knowing that she has been placed under surveillance, the former president warned some members of the opposition that they may have been "targets" as well.
Aquino, who previously called on President Gloria Arroyo "to make the supreme sacrifice" by stepping down from power in 2005, said she is not surprised that her telephone line is bugged.
- Cher Jimenez, Correspondent
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