Ex-Philippine president Estrada to again seek top post in 2010

Oct 21, 2009, 12:44 GMT

   Manila - Former Philippine president Joseph Estrada, who was convicted of corruption but pardoned, announced Wednesday he would again run for the top post in 2010.

   Wearing his trademark orange jacket and white wristband, the 72-year-old Estrada announced his plan to contest the presidency before a cheering crowd of tens of thousands in the impoverished district of Tondo in Manila.

   'This is the last performance of my life and I will not fail you,' he said. 'This fight will be the last fight in the movie of my life. But the hero will not be me, but the Filipino masses.'

   Estrada offered his candidacy to his mother, his children, the poor Filipinos and his best friend, the late movie star Fernando Poe Junior, who died after losing against incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in elections in 2004.

   'I accept the challenge to bring back the dignity of the oppressed Filipino masses, to bring back hope to the poor, to bring back the voice of the Filipino masses,' he said.

   'I swear that I, Joseph Erap Ejercito Estrada, will run in the next elections to again serve the Filipino masses as president of the Philippines,' he added.

   But legal experts have warned that Estrada might no longer be eligible to run for president.

   The experts noted that the country's constitution prevents former presidents from seeking any re-election. They added that one condition of Estrada's pardon in 2007 was that he will not run again for any public office.

   But the former president shrugged off the possible hindrance to his new presidential bid, saying, 'The pardon restored all my civil and political rights. So I can vote, and I can be voted for.'

   He also stressed that he was allowed to run for the presidency again since he did not finish his term, having been deposed on his third year in office in 2001.

   Estrada won as the Philippine president with the highest winning margin in 1998. But in 2001, he was chased out of power by a military-backed mass uprising amid allegations of large-scale corruption and incompetence.

   After being detained while on trial for more than six years, he was convicted of corruption in September 2007, but was pardoned the following month by Arroyo.

   Other politicians who have announced plans to join the presidential race in 2010 are Senator Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III, Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and real estate magnate Senator Manny Villar.