Estrada declares second run for presidency

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Former Pres. Joseph Estrada during his declaration for the 2010 presidential elections. AJPress photo by Rene Villaroman

TONDO, MANILA—Former Philippine President Joseph Ejercito Estrada has declared his second presidential bid with running mate, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay in a rally held in Moriones, Tondo, one of the poorest sections of the city, on Wednesday evening, October 21.Estrada, who claims that he was unjustly removed from position during what is now called EDSA Dos, reiterated that his removal from power after almost three years into his presidency was the handiwork, allegedly, of "the elite and the ruling class of the Philippines, which heaped lies upon lies and filed bogus and unfounded charges against him to accelerate his removal."

Although Estrada was viewed by most poor Filipinos as a president with a social conscience firmly in place, he could not shake off the devastating results of the "plunder" and "jueteng" (illegal gambling) charges that his political enemies filed against him. In addition, it was wildly speculated that he incurred the ire of his predecessor, former President Fidel Ramos, one of the architects of the EDSA "People Power" revolution in February 1986, when he made it his mission to unravel alleged anomalies in the sale of the Fort Bonifacio military reservation and other government-owned military real estate to private land developers.

Estrada’s declaration to run for president a second time has spurred a spate of healthy debate surrounding his eligibility to run again. Under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, a President is barred from running again after a six-year term. Some legal pundits, including Dean Amado Valdez of the University of the East College of Law, believe that Estrada is eligible to run again for the reason that he did not finish an entire six-year term of office. "Erap can run," Valdez declared, "because he is not running for re-election. He is making a second run for the presidency."

Whether that reasoning holds water would ultimately depend on an expected Supreme Court ruling regarding this technicality. A well-respected legal mind, Chief Justice Puno, has said that it was a matter for the people to decide. On Thursday morning, October 22, Malacanang, not surprisingly, issued a statement that an ultimate ruling would be made by the SC.

Encouraged by his unprecedented record as the only president elected with 6.5 million vote plurality over his closest rival, Estrada appears determined to forge ahead. "Let’s not lose hope," he exhorted a visibly adoring audience estimated at about 5,000, huddled in humid and warm conditions on Plaza Hernandez, fronting the centuries-old Santo Nino Church. Speaking almost exclusively in Tagalog, Estrada said, "My belief is strong that together, we can get out of these depths and stand up against the trials because our belief in God is very strong."

He related that during his incarceration, he was allegedly "flooded with lies, and unfounded and erroneous charges from politicians who are hungry – not in the stomach – but hungry for power and wealth."

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