Elections crushed in May and Estrada plans political return

MANILA – Joseph Estrada watched the big screen of his San Juan City Lounge on Thursday, broadcasting a video summarizing his 50-year political career.

Estrada was looking for comfort in his latest 20-minute production, which was close to his heart, more than two months after he and his family had suffered a crushing defeat in the mid-term May elections.

Her two sons both lost to the senatorial elections, while a niece was defeated in the San Juan mayoral race, marking the end of the Estrada-Ejercito dynasty of five decades of the city.

Estrada himself has been denied a third term as mayor of Manila, losing by more than 140,000 votes against his former ally, Francisco "Isko" Moreno.

"For now, it is the mayor Erap who authorizes it," he addressed the camera of his former office at the town hall of Manila.

'DRAMA ONLY'

When asked if he was retiring for good, he turned to this reporter and jokingly told him, "Drama lang."

Estrada, 82, said he was not leaving politics and was actually waiting for the next opportunity to return to his seat.

"If I have a chance to come back, I'll do it," he told ABS-CBN News Thursday, insisting that he still had a lot to offer, even with his advanced age .

"I'm still strong," he added, pointing out that he was much younger than Mahathir Mohamad, who made a spectacular comeback as Malaysian Prime Minister in 2018, at age 92 years old.

Estrada's political objective is more modest and personal, not wanting to be a candidate for the presidency, but to take Manila and restore his San Juan dynasty.

He said that he did not intend to sell his vast Sta. Mesa's property and its one-story home that he purchased in 2012 precisely to meet the requirement of electoral residence in Manila.

But his home, he admitted, has always been Polk Street, No. 1 in San Juan, where he was elected mayor in 1969, opening a political career leading to Malacañang.

Political greed

It was not easy for the family, one of the most powerful political dynasties in the Philippines, to face its magnificent defeat last May.

To date, Estrada has spoken of a "conspiracy" to defeat his family by manipulating the vote electronically.

"We suspect lang but we have no evidence," he said. "It is the voice of the machine (of stripping) so it is not the voice of God."

Electoral analysts believe that the fall of the Estradas was also their own cause, spreading their candidates too far, with political greed apparently taking over.

"Bakit greedy? Siraulo nila. Bakit di nila gawin? It is the will of the people, "protested the patriarch of the family.

(Why greedy? They're crazy. Why do not they run as well?)

FRATERNAL RIVALITY

Behind the scenes, his sons Jinggoy Estrada and JV Ejercito hold each other accountable for their reciprocal defeat at the senatorial election.

Ejercito thought that his candidacy for re-election was compromised as soon as his older half-brother tried to regain his seat in the Senate.

In another interview with ABS-CBN News in May, Jinggoy Estrada claimed that he had become a senator before Ejercito.

The half-brothers spent most of the campaign hitting each other in TV commercials.

Their father stated that he did not regret choosing two sons as a senator, while other family members were seeking elective positions in Manila and San Juan.

A family member went there as an advisor to San Juan, which is now controlled by the Zamoras, former supporters of the Estradas who first sought to overthrow them in 2016.

Estrada insisted that he had never built a political dynasty because his family members who had served over the years had won the free elections.

"The will of the people is the voice of God. Anong Dynasty? Hindi Dictionary ba kayo nagbabasa ng?

(Which dynasty? Why not check its meaning in the dictionary?)

SELLERS

Since he overthrew Estrada, Moreno has been touring the press to point out what the former mayor had failed to do in six years: clean up a ruined city.

Estrada said that he had never considered ridding neighborhoods such as Divisoria of street vendors "at the expense of the poor".

"I could not, in conscience," he says. "Magpapasikat lang ako, maglilinis, two months ago, magugutom na mahihirap."

(I could have shown, but many would be hungry.)

Estrada's critics view his inaction more as a lack of political will, implying that he was making money from the sellers.

"Naman taxable," he said. "Well, you can not talk about the artist. Mas malaki pa kikitain ko. Papatulan ko pa mahihirap na tumulong his kin? Kalokohan & yan. "

(It's impossible, I should have gone back to the movies, I would have won more, why should I milk the poor who helped me?) It's stupid.)