The camp of former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada Tuesday urged the public to remain vigilant, saying President Arroyo’s past actions might betray her promise to relinquish power on June 30, 2010.

Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) spokesman Ralph Calinisan said Arroyo’s promise to bow out when her term expires is “worth nothing” and "unbelievable" when seen in light of past broken promises.

Calinisan cited Arroyo’s penchant to break her promises including her public pronouncement that she would not run for President in the 2004 election.

“Mrs. Arroyo’s assurance on stepping down is worth nothing, and almost everyone finds this highly unbelievable if we are to go by any of her past actions. For this reason, we must all share in the responsibility of vigilance until the very minute that a new president is sworn in,” Calinisan said in a statement.

“And when we add to this her decision to run as representative of Pampanga’s 2nd district, her administration’s backdoor manipulation of Congress’s moves to amend the Constitution, we can all clearly see that the lady may not go quietly into the night as we all want her to when her term expires,” he said.

The PMP spokesman said an Arroyo appointment of a new SC Chief Justice to replace Reynato Puno who will retire several days after the May 10 election, could be part of a plan to extend her term.

“We all see the same thing, and that is an insidious attempt to extend power by creating a ‘friendly’ court that may be counted on for sympathy and support at some future time,” Calinisan said.

PMP standard bearer Estrada earlier said that although it might be legal for her to do so, President Arroyo should leave the appointment of the next SC chief justice to the next president, “out of delicadeza.”

Estrada said that there is a gray area in the Constitution regarding such emergency cases involving the appointment of a retiring chief of the Supreme Court with appointments banned during election period.

“Although it is legal, out of ‘delicadeza,’ I believe (Arroyo) should not be appointing the next chief justice because after the May 10 election, the current President would only be act as the caretaker of the government. That is my honest opinion,” Estrada said.