After the Three D's, now come the Three P's.
If disinformation, disaffection and destabilization may be dragging down President Estrada, pagkain (food), pabahay (housing) and peace and order remain the priorities of his one-and-a-half-year-old administration.
Such that the President has no more time for the fourth P, pag-ibig (love).
"Sa dami ng trabaho natin, nalipasan na tayo no'n
(Because of all our work, love has passed us by)," he said, reacting to a comment by a female radio announcer yesterday over dzBB who said another P, pag-ibig, should also be a priority.
The 62-year-old Mr. Estrada, a former movie actor, is a known ladies' man.
He dismissed anew as nothing but "nit-picking" questions raised by some of his critics over the
supposed poor state of his health, following reports he had an unscheduled visit at the Makati Medical Center (MMC) last week.
Except for his bum knees, he declared that he was, in fact, in the pink of health. With a straight face, he clarified that he went to the MMC to consult with doctors if he is three months pregnant; an allusion to another rumor that a lady friend of his had just given birth to a son.
But, again turning serious, the President explained he was merely visiting last Friday night a sick relative confined at the MMC, and dropped by to condole with the family of the late journalist Teodoro Locsin Sr., father of Today publisher Teodoro Locsin Jr.
"Everywhere I go I'm being watched," he said.
The President said that during his latest medical check-up last September in California, US doctors gave him a clean bill of health.
"But I have to be honest. I have arthritis in both knees. But above my knees, I'm very strong, I'm very healthy," he said, laughing.
Which, some say, would augur well for the fourth P. Or maybe not.