MANILA, Philippines - It will not happen again. Former President Joseph Estrada yesterday revealed he has already laid out plans to prevent another popular uprising similar to one that ousted him from Malacañang in January 2001. If given a fresh mandate in the May 10 elections, Estrada assured his supporters that he will not be unseated again, although he did not elaborate. “Secret,” Estrada told GMA-7 anchor Arnold Clavio on the news program “Kandidato.”

LIBERAL Party standard bearer Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III yesterday said President Arroyo’s reported plan to become House speaker is possible only under a Villar administration because of the "unholy alliance" between the government and the camp of Nacionalista Party’s Sen. Manuel Villar. Under an Aquino administration, there is no way Arroyo will become speaker because the LP’s allies would not allow it, he said.

MALUNGON, Sarangani, Philippines – Rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of thousands of local folk who trooped to the municipal gym compound here Saturday night for the proclamation rally of the People’s Champ Movement (PCM) of congressional aspirant Manny Pacquiao. It was Pacquiao’s turn to speak when the skies opened up, and rain fell. The crowd broke up but only to seek temporary shelter under roof eaves and in the gym.

MANILA, Philippines - Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno Aquino III and his running mate Sen. Manuel Roxas II are expecting a new kind of “revolution” on May 10 that would end corruption. “Vote power” would ensure the elections would be free of fraud, they said. Speaking at the 24th anniversary celebration of the 1986 EDSA people power uprising at the Araneta Center Thursday night, Aquino said “people power” was needed to stamp out corruption that has kept millions of Filipinos hungry, jobless, and out of school.

BARANGAY OFFICIALS IN Manila Friday asked the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) to help defuse the brewing tension between Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim’s men and supporters of former Environment Secretary and mayoral candidate Lito Atienza. In their letter to NCRPO director Chief Supt. Roberto Rosales, the barangay chairs, who are backing Atienza’s candidacy, requested intensified police visibility in several areas of the city.

MALOLOS CITY , Philippines  – Former senator Ernesto Maceda yesterday identified El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde as the emissary of a presidential candidate who allegedly tried to persuade former President Joseph Estrada to withdraw from the presidential race. El Shaddai spokesman Mel Robles denied yesterday that Velarde discused this directly with Estrada. A source in El Shaddai recalled a television interview wherein Velarde told Estrada “not to run.”