PHILIPPINES: Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada says he will run for office again

Record ID: 556002

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada says he will run for office again
  • Date: 12th September 2009
  • Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (SEPTEMBER 10, 2009) (REUTERS) ESTRADA SPEAKING TO REPORTERS ESTRADA'S HANDS FOLDED (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT JOSEPH ESTRADA SAYING: "I will only run if the opposition will not unite and present only one presidential candidate. But it seems they will not unite, so definitely I'm going to run." ESTRADA'S TRADEMARK WRIST BAND (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT JOSEPH ESTRADA SAYING: "I got so frustrated when my presidency was cut short to two and a half years instead of six years. So I was not able to continue all my pro-poor programme, and my food security programme, and of course the peace and order throughout the country." REPORTERS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT JOSEPH ESTRADA SAYING: "I had borne children out of wedlock. So it makes all of them total 12. But my wife is not complaining, so you don't have to complain. No one of them is complaining, although I'm separated with them. But I'm a responsible father. I see to it that they get the best education." REPORTERS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT JOSEPH ESTRADA SAYING: "One more chance, and that's it. It will be really my last performance in my life. I have no more ambition in life except when I exit, I'll be remembered as the man who championed the cause of the masses. That's all my dream." ESTRADA TALKING TO HIS SPOKESPERSON VARIOUS OF LIQUOR BOTTLES IN ESTRADA'S COLLECTION ESTRADA WATCHING A FILM ABOUT HIS LIFE ESTRADA WALKING TOWARDS A TABLE
  • Embargoed: 27th September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6CEYN6Q2PSPX2ZSX2FAEAIIO5
  • Story Text: Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada, ousted from office and convicted of plunder, vows to run again for president next year, saying he still had unfinished business.
    Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada, ousted from office and convicted of plunder, vowed on Thursday (September 10) to run again for president next year, saying he had unfinished business to complete.
    The hard-living 72-year-old former matinee idol won the presidency by a landslide in 1998 but was impeached and then removed from office in 2001, in an act he claims was illegal.
    "I will only run if the opposition will not unite and present only one presidential candidate. But it seems they will not unite, so definitely I'm going to run," he told Reuters in an interview at his home in the San Juan district of Manila.
    "I got so frustrated when my presidency was cut short to two and a half years instead of six years. So I was not able to continue all my pro-poor programme, and my food security programme, and of course the peace and order throughout the country," he said.
    More than half a dozen others have also declared their candidacy for president, although no one has a clear lead in opinion polls. Estrada was second in a recent survey, and he said he will back out if he slides down to third.
    The movie actor, however, commands a sizeable following among the poor and those living in the countryside, who see in him the romantic folk hero of his box office successes, battling the rich and the corrupt. His nickname is Erap, a play on the word Pare, or buddy.
    But Estrada remains a thorn in the side of the powerful church and of business leaders, who have worried about fiscal profligacy during his term in office and tales of a "midnight cabinet" of drinking and gambling buddies who influenced policy.
    Traders have warned that prospects of an Estrada victory closer to the elections could spook financial markets.
    Estrada however said he knew and could solve the problems of the people "from A to Z".
    The three main issues, he said, were ending insurgencies by Muslim and left-wing rebels, controlling the population increase, and removing corruption in government.
    Estrada was convicted by a special court in 2007 of economic plunder while in office, taking bribes from gambling lords and stealing from state coffers. He was pardoned six weeks later by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was earlier his vice-president but a political opponent.
    Opinion is divided whether he will be eligible to stand for election, since the constitution restricts the president to a single six-year term. But Estrada says his legal team has assured him he is eligible since he did not complete his term.
    Estrada has aged since his term in office, but not much -- his face was unlined and his trademark puffed hair was immaculately in place. He shuffled around his drawing room in slippers, but changed into a fresh shirt for television. He wore a wrist band with a presidential seal.
    He said he smokes a pack a day, and enjoys French wine. A crowd of liquor bottles, mostly single malt Scotch, was placed on a sideboard.
    Renowned for having a string of mistresses, Estrada says he has fathered 12 children.
    "I had borne children out of wedlock. So it makes all of them total 12. But my wife is not complaining, so you don't have to complain. No one of them is complaining, although I'm separated with them. But I'm a responsible father. I see to it that they get the best education," he said.
    Winning next year's election would be a vindication, he said.
    "One more chance, and that's it. It will be really my last performance in my life. I have no more ambition in life except when I exit, I'll be remembered as the man who championed the cause of the masses. That's all my dream," he said.
    Estrada is shooting his comeback film after two decades away from show business, a comedy wherein he plays the role of a father.
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