Erap to defer US visa application, to ask his doctor to come to RP instead

Pardoned former President Joseph Estrada yesterday said he will defer his application for a US visa to prevent his being used by his political enemies in “political gimmicks.”

In a telephone interview with The STAR, Estrada said he already asked his physician, Dr. Christopher Mow, to be the one to come to the Philippines to examine his knees.

“I’m no longer going to the US for my knee examination because my application for a US visa is being used as a political issue. I will defer my application for a US visa. I already asked Dr. Mow to come to the Philippines to conduct my knee examination. No operation is needed, so the examination on my knees can be conducted even in my house,” Estrada said.

He said he will no longer submit the documents required by the US embassy for the approval of his US visa.

“Well, I will not submit them anymore because I am no longer interested to go to the US,” Estrada said.

Estrada’s spokeswoman Margaux Salcedo also clarified that there’s no truth to rumors which circulated last Wednesday that Estrada’s application for a US visa was junked by the US embassy.

“The rumor that President Estrada’s application for a US visa was junked is not true. He was interviewed by the US embassy last week. The interview took all of ten minutes only. The visa was not issued on the spot only because he was requested to submit a few more documents that are needed to comply with their procedural requirements,” Salcedo said.  

Estrada underwent knee replacement surgery by Dr. Mow in Hong Kong in January 2005.

Estrada said that since then, Dr. Mow has not examined his knees.