Former President Joseph Estrada said Wednesday that the inclusion of Rep. Rodolfo “Ompong” Plaza, the political kingpin of Agusan del Sur in vote-rich Mindanao as a senatorial candidate, will further deliver to the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) the expected additional margin of votes from that region to carry his party to victory nationwide in next year’s presidential race.

“With Ompong in our senatorial slate, my party’s edge in Mindanao and the rest of Southern Philippines is a given,” Estrada said, after Plaza was sworn in as an official candidate for the Senate with the popular opposition leader as the PMP standard bearer in the May 2010 presidential elections.

Plaza joined Estrada’s senatorial slate led by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate President Protempore Jinggoy Estrada, guest candidate Senator Miriam Santiago, Rep. Bongbong Marcos, Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin, and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim who is still under government detention.

Plaza was accompanied by local officials from his home province during the swearing-in rites held at the Estrada home in Polk St. North Greenhills, San Juan City.

Once elected to the Senate, according to Plaza, his priority will be filing bills aimed at strengthening agriculture “because in any strong economy, the backbone is always agriculture.”

He added that Estrada’s agriculture projects during his watch, intended to make Mindanao the country’s food basket, should be continued and pursued “at all cost.”