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CHAPTER 3

CHAMPION OR ROGUE? THE SEQUEL


JOSEPH EJERCITO ERAP ESTRADA (BIRTH NAME: JOSE MARCELO EJERCITO)

Age on Election Day: 73 years old Birthday: April 19, 1937

Party Afliation: Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP)

Previous position/occupation: President of the Philippines (ousted in 2001; convicted of plunder but pardoned in 2007) Strengths: Charm, very good people skills, street-smart language, veteran and astute campaign handlers, non-involvement of family in decision-making, strategic user of surveys, tirelessness in sorties

Weaknesses: Limited campaign funds, hesitance to attack major rivals, failure to re-invent himself from 1998 Campaign handlers: Ernesto Maceda, Renato RC Constantino Jr, Horacio Boy Morales Campaign taglines: Erap Para sa Mahirap; Kung May Erap, May Ginhawa

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IT WAS CLOSE to lunchtime at the reception pavilion of

Joseph Ejercito Estradas farm in Tanay, Rizal. The former president was getting a haircut as party mates, political advisers, lawyers, and close friends milled around. This was not just any day in his house arrest that had lasted six years and six months. It was Oct 26, 2007, a day after President Gloria MacapagalArroyo signed the grant of executive clemency for her predecessor, who was convicted of plunder barely six weeks earlier. Now, Estrada was set to walk a free man. But then came his friend, Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn, with a message from Malacaang: the pardon papers might not be released as promised.1 Estrada blew his top: Bakit? Di naman ordinaryong tao ang kausap nila.2 Then he calmed down, Mamamatay na ang Mama ko.3 The bad news was rst relayed to him by phone at a little past 7 am, also through Hagedorn.4 In that morning call as in the noon visit, President Arroyo, for the last time, wanted Estrada to give assurances on two things: that he wouldnt seek any elective post again and that he would not fund or lead any mass action against her administration.5 Some advisers and media reports had warned the president that Estrada could do either, once he was pardoned. Fueling her fears was Estradas refusal to sign the pardon document if it contained any provision making him promise not to run for public ofce again. Pare, alam mo naman, matanda na ako, di na ako tatakbo, tapos na ako diyan, Estrada told Hagedorn, addressing the rst concern.6

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118 Ambition Destiny Victory

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Unnished business

At kung manggugulo ako pagkatapos kong ma-pardon eh wala naman akong utang na loob non, he said of Arroyos other worry.7 Convinced of the promises relayed to her, Arroyo sent the pardon documents to the Sandiganbayan that day. Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who had negotiated the whole thing, had to take a chopper to reach the farm before nighttime. Estrada had made it clear that he wasnt going to stay a minute longer. By almost 8 pm, Estrada was already standing before a cheering crowd in San Juan, where his political career started in the late 1960s. He would dedicate himself to livelihood and scholarship programs, he said. He would support the Arroyo administrations propoor programs. Most importantly, Wala na akong balak pumasok sa maruming larangan ng pulitika.8 As it would turn out, Arroyos fears were well-founded. Less than a year later, in July 2008, Estrada warned presidential aspirants from the opposition to unite behind a single candidate or he would run against them. Almost exactly two years after his pardon, on Oct 21, 2009, he formally declared his intention to seek the presidency again.

It was an idea that Estrada started nurturing as soon as he was arrested in April 2001. He told close associates who visited him over the years, either in jail or while under house arrest: if given the chancethat is, if the legal question about his eligibility to run for president a second time would be settledhe wanted another crack at the highest post. Now enjoying pardon, Estrada believed he was not violating any provision in the agreement. The promise not to seek elective ofce again was a whereas clause and did not necessarily constitute a condition for pardon, according to his lawyers.9 As far as they were concerned, what held was the part that said, he is restored to all his civil and political rights. To Estrada, this was about attending to unnished business orsince he had always called the presidency the greatest performance of my lifelike resuming a shelved movie project.

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