GMA vows to get ‘highest mandate’

President Arroyo has vowed to get the "highest mandate" in the presidential race as she rejected opposition accusations that her administration is plotting to derail next month’s elections and keep her in power.

She reassured the nation that the elections would push through as scheduled and pledged to keep the polls clean.

Mrs. Arroyo said she needed "the highest mandate I can get under the most credible electoral process" to ensure stability, which is necessary to keep the country’s economic recovery on track.

"I ask the people to give me this mandate and to see to it that the voting is clean, honest and orderly," Mrs. Arroyo said in a statement issued by Malacañang yesterday. "If we can demonstrate that we are fighting for change under a strong democratic system, we shall guarantee a great future for our people."

The opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) had accused the Palace of planning to manipulate the outcome of the polls to prevent its standard-bearer movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. from winning.

Mrs. Arroyo said she would "fight any attempt" to derail next month’s presidential contest "and the people are with me."

"We will not allow a few desperate power-seekers to prevail against the tide of national unity, democracy and the fight for change in the lives of our people," she said. "All enemies of democracy must be forewarned to stand down from violating the popular will."

Mrs. Arroyo reaffirmed her campaign promise to reach out to the opposition and unify the nation after the elections.

"Let us leave behind all partisan bickering and go for the big one — a new era in Philippine political and economic stability, borne by the dreams of the average Filipino, the respect of the world and our common fight for change and transformation."

Political analysts see the presidential election as a referendum on the performance of Mrs. Arroyo who, being the vice president, replaced scandal-tainted Joseph Estrada following a January 2001 popular uprising.

Mrs. Arroyo’s allies predict the US-educated economist will win the election by a slim margin and voter opinion polls show her to have a strong lead for the first time over main rival Poe.

Previous surveys showed Mrs. Arroyo and Poe in a statistical tie.

A survey, however, taken by NFO Trends from April 20 to 22 showed that Mrs. Arroyo now has a commanding lead of 10.5 percent over Poe.

"This is a welcome development for our President but she is not letting up in any of her efforts to get to the people. She continues to explain her platform, she continues to implement programs to uplift the lives of the people," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement on the results of the latest survey.

The President’s campaign officials say they plan to push harder during the last days of the campaign to widen her lead and rake a majority vote at the May 10 balloting.

They expect voter support for Mrs. Arroyo to "snowball" as election day nears.

Yesterday, Mrs. Arroyo received pledges of support from several party-list and civic groups during a meeting at Malacañang. "Seems like we’re going to win. But what we should take care now is to make sure that the elections remain credible," she told them.

A survey of 1,400 people conducted from April 10 to 17 by the respected research group Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that Mrs. Arroyo has 35.3 percent of voter support while Poe has 30.8 percent.

Mrs. Arroyo’s campaign benefited from uncertainty over independent candidate Raul Roco, according to the SWS.

Splinter opposition candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson was third with 10.6 percent while Roco, third in previous surveys, fell to fourth, chosen by only 8.4 percent of respondents.

Roco, who appeals to a similar middle-class constituency as Arroyo, says he will return to fight in the election but some analysts see his campaign as effectively over.

The latest SWS poll also showed a growing number of people who were undecided on who to vote for in May. It found that 10.9 percent were still undecided compared to the March 21-29 SWS survey where 7.6 percent said they were undecided.

SWS chief Mahar Mangahas said Mrs. Arroyo’s lead was "slim" and the situation could still change before election day. "It’s still a tight race."

Poe and Lacson are under pressure to unite the opposition and field a single candidate because of Mrs. Arroyo’s growing opinion poll lead but the two refuse to give up their presidential bids.

Political analyst Alex Magno, however, said even if Poe and Lacson combine forces, it may already be too late with the election only two weeks away.