The fourth Ejercito to run for the Philippine Senate is Joseph Victor “JV” G. Ejercito who is running in the 2013 senatorial elections. He is currently serving his first term as congressman representing the city of San Juan.
JV belongs to the rising stars in Congress with good background accomplishments tucked under their belt. He was elected San Juan mayor for three terms (2001-2010). Under his leadership he worked for the transformation of the municipality of San Juan to a highly urbanized city in June 2007. This, his supporters say, is JV’s most important accomplishment as mayor. He also spearheaded San Juan’s economic boom with an astounding increase in municipal revenues from P300 million to P1 billion by mobilizing support from the business sector and non-government organizations. He managed to undertake major projects, such as the renovation of the Museo ng Katipunan, and the setting up of a foundation that grants scholarships to poor but deserving students without a single centavo taken from the local budget. His accomplishments earned him the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) award in 2007.
JV is running as an Ejercito, not as an Ejercito-Estrada. His father, Joseph Ejercito, had used his screen name Joseph Estrada when he ran for political positions — as he was identified by movie goers by that name.
There’s no denying that the Ejercito clan is a political dynasty, but that has happened because the people of San Juan made it happen. The patriarch, “Erap,” was mayor of the small municipality of San Juan for 19 consecutive years (1967-1986), then became senator (1983-1993), then vice-president (1993-1997) and finally president of the Republic for a short duration (1998-2001) as he was ousted by the so-called 2nd People Power Revolution. The mother, psychologist Luisa “Loi” Pimentel Ejercito-Estrada (note her use of the name Estrada) was voted directly to the Senate (1998-2001). Jose Pimentel “Jinggoy” Ejercito-Estrada, her eldest son, used the Estrada magic name in his successful campaign for the San Juan vice-mayorship (1988-1992), another three campaigns for the mayorship (1992-2004), and another two for the Senate (2004 up to the present) under the Pwersa ng Masa political party. It is touted, but it is not yet certain, that he is running for vice-president in 2016.
Now there’s JV Ejercito, or JV, who was elected and served for nine years as San Juan mayor (2001-2010) and who ran and won in 2010 as the city’s representative in Congress. His term ends in 2013, but he is eyeing a seat in the Senate in that year’s election.
There is yet another Estrada, that is, by affinity, in a position of power, Guia Guanzon Gomez, a PWU business ad graduate and a native of Iloilo City, who is serving her third term as San Juan mayor. Call the system of father and wife and sons and mistress in political power absurd, but that is Philippine political reality.
A handful of us media women had dinner with JV at XO Heritage Bistro on Valero street, Makati the other evening. JV turned out to be quite charming, very frank, and transparent in a no-holds barred session. The 42-year-old only child of Erap and Guia enjoyed eating Sandee Basigan’s new bistro dish, kalderetang crispy pata, and answering the most asked questions. Like how did it feel to have a father having many mistresses? JV smiled and said he grew up in that setting so he had no reason to complain. Does his wife, Hyacinth Lutuaco, by whom he has two sons, feel threatened that JV might turn out to be like his father? He smiled and said indeed his wife does, but he assures her he will not. He named all the names of his father’s mistresses, and said there are now 14 of them children with the same father and different mothers, and they have reunions from time to time, in the home of Loi, the legal wife of Erap. “For a while, I thought I was the youngest of the children, but not so anymore,” he said.
It was a relief talking with JV, so unlike talking with veteran politicians who keep several families but deny their existence.
As city mayor, JV knew the problems of his constituents. Many had too many children for comfort. “As mayor you see the need to control population growth. You see that people must have enough resources to feed their families.”
Now in Congress, the RH bill has thrown him between a rock and a hard place. As a local executive, he had seen the wisdom of families planning the number of their children. “I have been for the RH bill. But the religious sisters (in San Juan) count me as part of them, so I am not for the bill’s passage.”
His father holds a different view. “My dad is for RH. He said, with the million babies born each year, paano mo pakakainin sila?”
“My mom is anti-RH bill,” JV said. Mom Guia Gomez, a movie starlet when the young actor Joseph Estrada swept her off his feet, is the hard-working mayor now, with livelihood projects for her constituents as her major thrust. JV said his father drops by at their house from time to time. He is known as “the First Gentleman of San Juan.”
JV is considered one of the most outstanding and active neophyte congressmen of the 15th Congress. He has filed a total of 144 House bills, and three house resolutions in his first two years in Congress. Three of these are already approved and transmitted to the Senate for deliberation and approval. He is proud of being the author of HB 3264, which strengthens people’s right to participate in the crafting of development plans.
Asked why he is running for the Senate, he simply smiled. Once elected, he will be joining his brother, Jinggoy, who has four more years to go before he runs for vice-president in 2016. He described his relationship with his half brother as “cordial.”
JV has a bachelor’s degree , major in political science, from De La Salle University. He finished his elementary and high school education at the Jesuit Xavier School.
He said he expects his senatorial campaign to run to P200 million. But he has no problem raising the money as his business ventures include construction and credit resources, three Jollibee and two Inasal food centers, and two Petron gasoline stations.
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Email: dominitorrevillas@gmail.com