Erap's wish to P-Noy

If former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo could do it, why can’t ex-President Joseph Estrada? That is, if Estrada pulls a win against re-electionist Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim in the coming mayoral race in May next year.

This is not to cast any doubt on Estrada’s mass appeal to get him voted again in public office. After all, Estrada nearly made a successful comeback in the presidency in the May 2010 elections. Mr. Estrada came a close second to President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, or P-Noy for short.

Mr. Estrada garnered 9.4 million against P-Noy’s 15.2 million votes in that presidential race. Of Estrada’s total votes all over the Philippines, 214,517 of that came from the city of Manila. On the other hand, Mayor Lim won his second term in office at City Hall with 395,910 votes. But comebacking mayor Lito Atienza filed an election protest against Lim before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The Comelec upheld Mayor Lim’s victory. Atienza, however, elevated his election protest before the Supreme Court where it is pending resolution.  Mayor Lim, who has earned the moniker “Dirty Harry” for his no-nonsense peace and order drive, is seeking his third and last term at City Hall in next year’s elections.

Mr. Estrada is about to foil Mayor Lim’s run. The ex-president finally ended speculation last Wednesday when he moved to Manila as the new owner of the mansion at 589 Mangga Avenue in Santol, Sta. Mesa.

Yesterday, Mr. Estrada completed all other legal requirements for his mayoral bid in Manila. He officially registered as a voter of Barangay 581, Zone 57 of the fourth district in the city, got a residence certificate (cedula), and paid as much as P3 million in taxes.

This is to officially establish his one-year residency in Manila before the elections as required, among other things, under our country’s Omnibus Election Code. This now qualifies Mr. Estrada as a candidate in Manila’s mayoral race in the coming 2013 polls. By doing so, Estrada takes the same route that his EDSA-2 successor took.

Of course, this is in relation to Arroyo’s setting a precedent of being the country’s first ex-president to run for lower office. Mrs. Arroyo ran and won as congressional representative of Lubao, Pampanga, the hometown province of her late father, former President Diosdado Macapagal.

Mrs. Arroyo’s becoming a congresswoman was a masterstroke of politics. She remains in power even as she is facing several graft, plunder, and electoral sabotage cases lodged in various courts. These she is now facing after nine years in the presidency and surviving no less than three attempts to impeach her and one failed coup to oust her from Malacañang. 

As it is turning out, it was a wise decision on her part to step down to Congress immediately after the end of her presidency. Mrs. Arroyo is currently serving her congressional constituents while in “hospital detention” at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City. She is also going through judicial proceedings on her various cases.

The 64-year-old Congresswoman is currently being treated for her bone disease, among other medical problems. Though prevented to perform her duties in Congress, Mrs. Arroyo is reportedly seeking re-election in her home district for a second term in Congress next year.

Ex-President Estrada refuses to be compared with Mrs. Arroyo’s going down to the level of Congress. As far as he is concerned, his mayoral bid springs from his desire to serve the people of Manila and not for any personal ends.

He, too, does not consider it as a “demotion” if he becomes a Mayor of Manila after holding the country’s highest elective office.

The much in demand actor Estrada ran and won as mayor of San Juan in 1967 and served for 17 years. He was elected senator in 1987 and vice-president in 1992. In 1998, he was elected 13th President of the Republic. His term was cut short after EDSA-2 in January 2001 and succeeded in office by Mrs. Arroyo who was then his Vice President.

After being convicted of plunder by the special court created by then President Arroyo, Estrada received executive clemency that restored his political rights, including the right to vote and be voted upon. Thence, he ran but lost to P-Noy in the 2010 presidential election.

Despite losing his comeback bid to P-Noy, Estrada’s friendship with the Aquino family has remained strong. Estrada has held in high esteem P-Noy’s late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, especially after the latter publicly apologized to him for having supported EDSA-2 .

In a speech at his 75th birthday party attended by P-Noy and his sisters last month, Estrada jokingly volunteered to be a presidential consultant on affairs of the heart, pro bono, to the country’s first bachelor President. Known for his womanizing, Estrada was also roasted no less by his children — a dozen of them sired from six women — during his birthday party organized by daughter Jackie Ejercito Lopez at Le Pavilion. The siblings were gathered together by Jackie’s eldest brother Senate president pro-tempore Jinggoy Estrada.

One of them asked what his birthday wish was, and Erap wisecracked: “I wish a dozen more.” To which, Estrada’s wife, former First Lady, Dra. Loi Ejercito, reportedly riposted: “Hanggang wish ka na lang!”

But the former First Lady leads in lending the full support of the entire Ejercito clan in Estrada’s return to public service. The family was in full force, including his politician sons, Jinggoy and San Juan City Rep. JV Ejercito who both earlier opposed their father’s downgrading himself to mayor.

Driving again his “Jeep ni Erap” when they moved in to the old Legarda ancestral house the other day, Estrada’s plying the streets of Manila stirred the political pot this early. He vows to clean up the country’s premier capital city if he beats “Dirty Harry” in the race to City Hall. 

Though Mayor Lim is closely identified with the Aquino family, Estrada could only wish P-Noy would stay “neutral” in next year’s mayoral race. He is still waiting though for P-Noy to make up his mind on his proffered services as special consultant on matters of presidential love life.