MANILA, Philippines - Former President Joseph Estrada yesterday called on the Filipino people to help President Aquino in his work in nation building and bring back the “bayanihan” spirit to improve the country’s situation.
“On our part as citizens, let us just help P-Noy. Let that be our way of honoring the memory of President Cory (Aquino). Like what I’ve always said, no one will help the Filipino but his fellow Filipino,” Estrada said in a press statement.
He added that Aquino needs time to restore faith in government “because of the immeasurable and insurmountable acts of corruption of the past administration.”
“In fact, the last decade can be called the lost decade or the stolen decade in Philippine history because reports are glaring that not only the presidency was stolen, even the votes of the Filipino masses were stolen in 2004. The fertilizer fund was stolen. If it wasn’t stopped by the Supreme Court, Mindanao could have also been stolen,” he said.
The former president, who was ousted in 2001, accused former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of being “responsible for the stolen decade,” along with “all those who joined in the grand conspiracy to rob the nation and suppress the will of the Filipino people.”
But while the nation lauds Aquino’s anti-corruption programs, Estrada also believes that nation building must be simultaneous with eliminating corruption.
“I hope that in his second year we see more results in the fields of peace and order, food security and social services, especially education,” he said.
Estrada also congratulated Aquino on his first year as president, saying his administration is on the right path “because it is focused on restoring faith in government.”
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 14.63 points or 0.33 percent to 4,465.87.
Trading was mixed across counters, with the financial, industrial and holding firm counters losing ground while the services and mining/oil counters staying afloat.
On Monday, investment guru Mark Mobius said the Philippine stock market was getting very expensive but that there were still opportunities in the services and commodities sectors.
Value turnover was thin at P4.31 billion. There were 53 advancers versus 79 decliners while 49 stocks were unchanged.
The index was weighed down by Aboitiz Power, Metrobank and AEV. Non-index stocks Semirara, San Miguel Corp. and Leisure & Resorts also traded in the red.
PLDT led the services counter to a positive close. Other index gainers were Megaworld, EDC, Banco de Oro, Philex, Lepanto “A” (reserved for local investors) and ICTSI. The non-index stocks that went up in heavy volume were Basic Energy, Vista Land, GERI, ORE and Zeus Holdings.
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