Jinggoy eyes Senate comeback after failed 2019 bid

MANILA, Philippines — Jinggoy Estrada, the former senator who faces a plunder case related to the "pork barrel" scam, is again seeking a return to the Senate as he filed his certificate of candidacy on Sunday. 

The son of former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada lost in the 2019 midterm elections after placing 15th — with 11.3 million votes —in a race for 12 seats.

Eyeing a comeback to the upper chamber under his father's Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, Jinggoy vowed to push for job generation amid the coronavirus pandemic.

He did not give specific plans on how this will be done but said the private sector must be involved in recovery efforts along with government.

Jinggoy has been detained twice in his political career on plunder charges — first in 2001 and later in 2014.   

He was released in 2003 and won his first term as senator the year after, and was acquitted in 2007. 

The 58-year-old won reelection in 2010 but was later on embroiled in the controversial pork barrel scam that saw him sent to detention in 2014. 

By 2017, he walked as a free man after posting P1.33 million in bail. His other co-accused, former senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla, have also been released, and Revilla has returned to the Senate, too. 

"I will leave it to the courts to decide on my case," Jinggoy said when asked after he filed his COC.

'Erap' sons running again

Jinggoy attributed his defeat in 2019 to his brother, then reelectionist JV Ejercito, also running. 

Both failed to get Senate seats, and their father also lost the reelection bid for Manila mayor.

Three years later, both Jinggoy and JV are running for the Senate again, with the latter filing his COC on Saturday, October 2. 

"Why not?" Jinggoy said, when asked by a reporter if brothers in the Senate would be morally acceptable. "Both of us deserve to be there."

On his brother JV's candidacy, he said: "I wish both of us good luck. There are 12 seats being fought for and I hope both of us will win." — Christian Deiparine