Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, who was earlier reported to have "walked out" of the rally when Estrada showed up on stage, clarified that he left with the other religious leaders onstage to give way to the second half of the program and not because of Estrada.

He had no ill feelings about the incident, he said, but noted that if it had been him, he probably would not have used Estrada's appearance at an interfaith rally.

"It was not because of Estrada per se, but because of the nature of the speaker," he said in an interview, referring to the fact that the organizers of the interfaith rally had earlier agreed that no politicians will be allowed to speak onstage.

Monsignor Gerry Santos, national capital region director of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP-NCR), expressed strong disappointment over the incident.

"I did not like that. They should have followed what was agreed upon. The other organizers should explain to us what happened," Santos told the Inquirer.

Santos said they were caught by surprise when the two former presidents were invited onstage.

"Whether short or long [Cory's and Erap's speech onstage], they should have stuck to what was agreed on," Santos said.

CEAP-NCR is one of the five groups under the umbrella movement "Watch Pray and Act" along with the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the Association of the Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), Manila Archdiocesan Parochial Schools (MAPSA), and the Ateneo De Manila's Simbahang Lingkod Bayan

The Watch and Pray and Act delegation brought a number of students and teachers from the Catholic schools, as well as nuns and seminarians, to the rally.

Santos said the point of the rally was really to give the ongoing communal actions against corruption a new face -- placing the youth and the religious at the forefront instead of the politicians.

He said the organizers had earlier agreed that no politicians will be allowed to speak onstage.

He said the policy was so strictly held that defeated senatorial candidate Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III had to have a one-on-one with Santos before Friday to ask permission to speak before the crowd and to allay the fears of the organizers on the no-politician policy.

Pimentel, said Santos, was only allowed to address the assembly to share his experience in the last senatorial elections, where he claims to have been cheated.

"But we don't want to make a big thing out of it. If we level things out, this is mainly respect for ground rules," he added.

But Fr. Joe Dizon, Solidarity Philippines convenor and one of the organizers of the rally, appealed to the public not to make a big issue out of Aquino and Estrada's appearance onstage.

He explained that the organizers only gave way to the two former leaders out of respect and protocol. He added that in keeping with the no-politicos agreement of the organizers, Aquino and Estrada only greeted the assembly and did not make any statement.

Dizon explained that Jejomar Binay, out of protocol as mayor of Makati, was allowed onstage to greet the assembly. Binay, for his part, he said, then acknowledged the presence of Aquino and Estrada and called them onstage out of courtesy and respect.

This incident aside, the organizers all considered Friday's rally a success in terms of sending a message to President Arroyo.

Now that the youth and the religious -- a sector that is not often seen rallying in streets -- have spoken, Dizon said, it is time for Arroyo to "read the writing on the wall."

"The rally has achieved its purpose of sending a strong message to Arroyo that her time is up. I pray and appeal that she reads the writing on the wall so as not to put the country in total confusion," he said.

Iniguez said the interfaith groups made a very resounding call for Arroyo to step down.

Iniguez clarified, however, that he has not personally decided whether or not to call for Arroyo's resignation but said that he "can easily go with those who call for it."