(1998-2001)13th Philippine President
5th Republic
Joseph Estrada is the ninth president of the Third Republic of the Philippines. He was born on April 19, 1937 in Tondo, Manila. He is the eight of the ten children of Emilio Ejercito and Maria Marcelo. Estrada studied at the Ateneo de Manila University and took up engineering at the Mapua Institute of Technology. He was in his third year in college when he decided to try the movies.
Displeased with his decision to drop out of college, his parents forbade him to use his family name, which forced him to adopt “Estrada” as a screen name and “Erap” (“Pare” or friend when spelled backward) as a nickname.
In 1974, he founded the Movie Workers Welfare Fund (MOWELFUND) that provides movie industry workers with financial and professional assistance.
Estrada entered politics when he ran for Mayor in San Juan in 1968. he was only proclaimed mayor in 1969, after he won an electoral protest against Dr. Braulio Sto. Domingo. As mayor (1969-1986), Estrada was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) in Public Administration (1972). He was also named most Outstanding Mayor and Foremost Nationalist (1972), and most Outstanding Metro Manila Mayor (1972). He won a seat in the senate in 1987 and chaired the Committee on Cultural Minorities and Rural Development on September 16, 1991, he voted for the rejection of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Security, which ended the stay of the United States military bases in the Philippines.
He was elected vice president in 1992. He was appointed chairman of the Presidential Anti-Crime commission (PACC).
He was elected President of the Philippines in 1998 to January 20, 2001.
He is married to Luisa Pimentel with whom he has three children
The problems of the Estrada administration reached a crescendo in 2000. Bugged by the intensifying insurgency in Mindanao and a series of natural and man-made calamities nationwide, the new administration poorly restored hope of a bright future. Then came the BW Resources anomaly, which Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Perfecto Yasay blamed on the president.
In October, Ilocos Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson, a former friend and close ally of the president, exposed that the president received about P500 million from jueteng kickbacks and excise tax from the Ilocos region. Corruption charges against the president ensued which spawned the dramatic passage of the Articles of Impeachment by the House of Representatives led by Speaker Manuel Villar on November 13.
The Senate then convened itself as an Impeachment tribunal and began the process on December 7. The House prosecutors presented more than 30 witnesses, mostly women, who testified that the president was involved in several irregular transactions. One witness, Clarissa Ocampo, a senior vice-president of Equitable-PCI Bank, claimed he saw the president affix a different signature, Jose Velarde, on a multi-million Peso bank transaction.
The defense panel, composed of the brightest lawyers in the country, and the majority party senator-judges, questioned the materiality and relevance of Ocampo’s testimony. Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide ruled that Ocampo’s testimony would only be considered if the prosecution panel could prove that the multi-million bank account came from irregular transactions.
On January 16, the House prosecutors were about to establish the missing link by opening an envelope, which they claimed would prove that the president had amassed P3.3 billion in ill-gotten wealth, when 11 senator-judges voted not to open the envelope. This prodded Senate President Aquilino Pimentel to resign, the House prosecutors and complainants to walk out, and the viewing public to storm to the historic intersection of EDSA and Ortigas in Mandaluyong City – the start of the 5-day People Power 2 at EDSA, that would force President Joseph Estrada to leave office.
Former Presidents Fidel Ramos and Corazon Aquino, Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, students, office workers, activists, lay people, laborers, politicians and celebrities joined the furious crowd in asking for the resignation of the president. On January 18, Nora Aunor stunned everyone when she joined the rally, publicly admitting her previous relationship with the president, and called him a woman-beater. The following day, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, Interior and Local Government Secretary Alfredo Lim, the military generals, and the police officers withdrew their support from the president, as foretold by former President Ramos.
In the morning of January 19, the president was guided out of Malacanang by Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Angelo Reyes to give way to a new president, a woman. Vice-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took his oath as the 14th president before Chief Justice Davide at noontime. She formally began her term in office on January 22, the same day the new US President George Bush was inaugurated at the White House.
At present, Estrada is back to the arms of his legitimate wife. One of his mistresses, Laarni Enriquez, flew to Hong Kong during the heat of the Impeachment trial. His friends like Lacson, Charlie Ang, Jaime Dichaves, and Nora Aunor also abandoned him. Much worse, one of his alleged illegitimate daughters, Josephine Rose Ejercito, said his father deserved what he got.
The Arroyo administration is preparing criminal charges against Estrada. The president said he was ready to face the music and prove his innocence. Ironically, he claimed that the controversial second envelope, which triggered the People Power 2, should have been opened in the first place.
