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"Rise To The Presidency"
Before Estrada no other movie star has received the highest gift that the
Filipinos can bestow. He's the only college dropout, along with the
country's first president, Emilio Aguinaldo, to rise to the presidency. If
only his father, Manila City engineer Emilio Ejercito, could see him now.
He disapproved of his son dropping out of his civil engineering course at
the Mapua Institute of Technology to enter the movies. In high school he
had been busted from the Ateneo for hitting an American classmate inside
the toilet. The American provoked the young Ejercito to use his fists for
bullying a Filipino boy.
His old man would not allow the family ''black sheep'' to tarnish the
family name. So, the actor took the first name he chanced upon in the phone
book. ''He was my idol,'' Estrada recently spoke to the Inquirer about his
father who died 21 years ago. ''Unfortunately, I did not follow him,'' he
added. His first schedule for the day is a visit along with his mother,
Maria Marcelo Ejercito, to the grave of his father at the San Juan
Cemetery.
Born in Tondo on April 19, 1937, Estrada was the eighth of 10 children. He
grew up in the suburb of San Juan, where he was later mayor for 16 years
(1969-1986). He built a reputation as an unconventional administrator who
roughed up rogue policemen as if he were still in one of his movie sets.
Estrada's stewardship of San Juan brought him accolades, among them:
He won a Senate seat in 1987, gaining praise for his firm position against the retention of the US military bases in the Philippines in 1991. He was voted upon by the Philippine Free Press as one of Three Outstanding Senators of the Year in 1988.
A year later he became Vice President and served briefly as the controversial,
pistol-packing head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission.
In the '50s, he took a summer job as ambulance driver for the National Mental
Hospital and met his future wife, Luisa Pimentel, a psychiatrist seven
years his senior who bore him three children. Estrada, at the peak of his
movie career, admits to having led a wild life. He also does not deny
siring a total of about seven children by other women. He equally supports
them all in the style he can afford. He's several times a millionaire from
his movie earnings invested shrewdly mainly in real estate.
A night owl, he admits books give him a migraine, and says listening to
speeches makes him sleepy. His love of good food is betrayed by his waistline. He loves
eating as much as cooking. He has been known to fly off to Hong Kong to try out
the dishes of a new resto. He says he has given up all vices, having
stubbed out the last of his cigarettes last month. Though a baptized
Roman Catholic, he goes to church only on his birthday and Christmas day
and believes in the ancient Chinese geomancy known as feng shui.
With a self-deprecating humor and a reputation for the ''common touch,'' he
built a lucrative film career. He's a five-time Famas awardee for Best
Picture for which he was installed at the Hall of Fame in 1981. Also a
five-time Famas awardee for Best Actor, he was elevated to the Hall of Fame
in 1984. He takes office today with a pledge to revive investor confidence
in the Philippines and stamp out official corruption, a senior aide said.
Never at home in formal ceremonies, the straight-talking new president will be
breaking another tradition at his inauguration. Instead of Manila's Rizal
Park, where Philippine presidents are traditionally sworn in, Estrada chose
the 113-year-old Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan. It was in this
church, 100 years ago to the month, that Filipino revolutionaries
promulgated a constitution establishing an independent government after 333
years of Spanish colonial rule.
Transferring his tough-guy screen image to his new role could do the trick.
He has been spoiling for a fight since Congress confirmed he had won the May 11
election, pledging to give a hero's burial to deposed dictator Ferdinand
Marcos, to oust Richard Gordon and to deprive congressmen of ''pork
barrel'' funds.
Supporters say Estrada's high-risk approach is what the country needed in a
time of wrenching economic crisis, but critics warn he is needlessly
dividing the country. ''It seems he does not want to be perceived as a
weak president,'' said Senator-elect Aquilino Pimentel, who ran under the
Estrada ticket. University of the Philippines political scientist Alex
Magno said if Estrada wins his battles ''he will begin his presidency on a
strong note, a decisive leader sticking out his neck and taking bold steps
that send shockwaves through the political establishment.''
Estrada, who won 39.9 percent of the vote in the May election, did not
angle for a honeymoon start to his presidency, laying the job on the line
over the burial of Marcos. He also faces battles in other fronts.
Gordon, a political foe who runs the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority out
of the former US naval base of Subic Bay, has threatened to take him to
court over a decision to replace him. The pork barrel issue, under which legislators have control over 10 percent of the national budget to finance their pet projects, threatens to undermine his legislative agenda. He has said the funds were a key source
of corruption.
Estrada beat nine candidates to win the presidency in May by the biggest
margin of any free presidential election in Philippine history.
With reports from Inquirer wires and Christine Avendano |
He once said he wished to retire at 60. But today at 61, life begins for
Joseph ''Erap'' Marcelo Estrada as the 13th president of the Republic of
the Philippines. The day of his inauguration was hectic with honors, including 21-gun
salutes on his arrival and departure from the Barasoain Church in the morning and
the Quirino Grandstand in the afternoon. The former movie star, who
started as a bit player, hasn't done too badly.
Idolized by the poor, he campaigned on a combination of policies that are both
market-friendly and designed to reduce widespread poverty in a population of 70
million. Estrada told reporters last week he could not be assuming
leadership at a worse time--the peso has lost about 35 percent of its value
in the past year, the stock market is struggling to stay afloat and tens of
thousands have lost their jobs with the closure of factories.