The presidential bid of Senator Maria Ana Consuelo  "Jamby" Madrigal is causing a dent on the number of votes to be drawn by former President Joseph Estrada in this year’s presidential election, as a group of fisherfolk in Bacoor, Cavite who supported his presidential bid in 1998 has defected to the former.

Rodolfo “Rodolan” Torres, the 65-year-old president of Samahan ng mga Mangingisda ng Bacoor, Cavite (SMBC), said their group has decided to withdraw their support for the former president because he (Estrada) abandoned his post in 2001 amid the 2001 Edsa 2 revolution.

“Dahil binigay n’ya ang pwesto n’ya nang ganun kadali, ayaw na namin sa kanya [because he easily yielded his presidential, we don’t want him anymore],” Torres said of Estrada.

SMBC, according to Torres, has close to more than 1,000 members from three barangays – Miliksi I to III,in Bacoor alone.He said they decided to throw their support to Madrigal because she was the only one who went to their place to ask their support. “Ngayon committed na kami sa kanya [Now we are committed to her],” the SMBC president said.

“Hindi namin masigurado na maipapanalo namin s’ya pero gagawin namin lahat para manalo s’ya dito. Basta ang panalangin ko sa taas sana manalo s’ya [We cannot assure her presidential victory but we will do everything to make her win here. I only pray that she will win],” he said.

After all, he said, they believe that Madrigal is the only one who could understand their plight.

“Tingin namin, sa mga tumatakbo sa presidente, s’ya lang ang may magandang hangarin sa mga mahihirap [We think, among those aspiring for president, only Madrigal has a good objective for the poor],” Torres said.

Though he has admitted having qualms about Madrigal’s winnability, Torres said they would still support her on the chance that she will win. “Alam mo kung may partido sana s’ya, malamang manalo s’ya. Pero wag tayong pakasisiguro dahil baka ngayon may manalong independent [She would have had bigger chances of winning if she is running under a party, but she’s independent. Still though, we cannot surmise about her fate because an independent candidate may win this time],” he said.

Meanwhile, independent presidential candidate Madrigal said yesterday that although the presidential campaign is costly, she is not accepting big donations to defray her expenses.

This, she said, because she does not want to be beholden to anyone in the event that she is elected.

“Yung malalaking donations, hindi ko tatanggapin kasi malalaking donations. Ayokong may utang na loob sa malalaking negosyante, kasi malaking negosyante, sisingil yan [I will not accept big donations. I don’t want to be indebted to big businessmen because they would ask for something in return,” she said.