Everyone knew that Joseph Estrada's impoverished supporters would vent their fury at the polls. They had been angry enough in January, when he was ousted from the presidency and replaced by his vice-president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Their outrage grew in late April, when he was arrested on corruption charges. Just as thousands of Mr Estrada's followers attacked Mrs Arroyo's palace on May 1st, millions of them voted as expected for his Senate candidates on May 14th. Yet, for all their efforts, it appeared by mid-week that Mrs Arroyo's team had won through in the battle for the Senate, taking seven or eight of the 13 available seats. Middle-class Filipinos, it seems, had done some venting of their own.
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