Erap seeks to postpone polls for 15 days

Former President Joseph Estrada on Friday became the third presidential aspirant to seek the postponement of the May 10 elections. But instead of going to the Commission on Elections — just like what his two rivals did earlier — Estrada went straight to the Supreme Court to file his request. In an eight-page petition, Estrada asked the high court to order the deferment of the polls for up to 15 days to give the poll body enough time to prepare for manual elections. Estrada, who is the standard-bearer of Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino, has gained sole ownership of the second spot of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) presidential preferential survey, dislodging consistent second placer Sen. Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. Estrada expressed fears that a failure of the first-ever automated polls in the Philippines could just ended up spelling "more serious complications." “In fact, some quarters have openly brought out the option of another ‘People Power.’ We dare not venture to guess on what would be the resultant effect to the Filipino people and to the nation [that] another ‘People Power’ would bring," he said. Estrada, who was ousted in 2001 during a mass uprising, cited the numerous glitches that marred the testing of precinct count optical scan machines in several parts of the country last Monday. “These failed tests, serious and flagrant as they are, created a reasonable ground to believe that the automated elections scheduled for May 10, 2010 are headed towards a chaotic, if not, total failure of elections," Estrada said. Estrada's petition was filed on the same day the Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections (Compact) also asked the Supreme Court to order the reactivation of digital signatures during the transmission of election returns. The Supreme Court was scheduled to convene in an en banc session at 3 p.m. on Friday to discuss matters regarding Monday's national elections. It was not yet clear whether Estrada or Compact's respective petitions would be included in the agenda of the magistrates. However, Estrada stressed that should there be a postponement of elections, it should not last longer than 15 days. “In this aspect, it would ensure that the sitting President will not be given any term extension. A delay of 15 days would be much more desirable than a failure of elections," Estrada pointed out," he said. On Thursday, Bangon Pilipinas standard bearer Bro. Eddie Villanueva asked the Comelec to move the elections to May 24 or nine days later to give the Comelec more time to test the PCOS machines. A month earlier, independent presidential candidate Nicanor Perlas also asked the poll body to postpone the elections should it fail to address questions about the automated system, including the need for a parallel manual count. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV