Senator Edgardo Angara has said he does not think former President Joseph Estrada had anything to do with the ASO jingle, which is now the subject of an impending lawsuit from his lawyers.

In a press conference in Dumaguete City Sunday, Angara said he does not believe President Estrada was involved with it because he continues to have excellent relations with the former president.

The ASO jingle, to the tune of the 1952 Bob Merrill song, "How much is that doggie in the window," purportedly refers to administration senatorial candidates Edgardo Angara, Vicente "Tito" Sotto III and Teresa "Tessie" Aquino-Oreta, former oppositionists who defected after they were left out of the Genuine Opposition slate.

The initials of the three politicians' last names spell "ASO," Filipino for dog, which is also used as a derogatory description for lackeys.

"As you know, I was the last Cabinet member to stay with him in Malacañang, literally to the last second, while everybody else had deserted him, and I like to think that because I stayed on in Malacañang to the last minute, there was no blood shed."

He said that Estrada even wanted him to join the opposition ticket. "But I told him it might be too late because from the very beginning your colleagues have expended me from the lineup and I have accepted the invitation of President Arroyo to join the unity ticket."

He said the ASO jingle is black propaganda and under the election law the Comelec can disqualify those behind it.

We know who are behind it from the other side but my lawyer said, "Don't disclose their names yet."

President Estrada had also gone on record last week disowning authorship of the jingle. "I have never used the term 'aso' to refer to Sen. Edgardo Angara and former Senators Vicente "Tito" Sotto III and Tessie Aquino Oreta," Estrada said from his vacation estate in Tanay, Rizal, where he is in detention. "My friendship with them goes beyond politics," he said. "And I don't dabble in such petty politics.*AP

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