Travel  |  Business World  |  Women's World  |  Entertainment

Change Your Life!

Ousted Estrada's wife declares senatorial candidacy

News
Sports
Chat
Travel
Dhaka Today
Yellow Pages
Higher Education
Ask a Doctor
Weather
Currency Rate
Horoscope
E-Cards
B2K Poll
Comment on the Site
B2K Club

February 13, 2001 

MANILA--(AP) - The wife of ousted leader Joseph Estrada declared her candidacy for the Senate on Monday in a move aides say was an attempt to vindicate the family name through the ballot box.

Luisa Ejercito's decision to join the Senate race adds a personal stake for Estrada in the May 14 general elections which have been widely regarded as a referendum on the "people power" revolt that toppled him last month.

The petition for Mrs. Estrada was filed by one of her sons at the elections commission office. She, her husband and children abandoned the Malacanang presidential palace on Jan. 20.

Mrs. Estrada, 70, is running under Estrada's once-powerful Party of the Filipino Masses and another party, LDP. Two other sons of the former president are considering a run for office but have not announced which posts they would contest.

Estrada was toppled in a military-backed popular uprising over corruption allegations. His vice president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, took over to finish his term, which ends in 2004.

On Jan. 31, Estrada appeared publicly for the first time since his ouster and announced his party would field many candidates for the elections, including his wife, even though she was reluctant to enter politics.

The balloting will give crucial control of Congress to either Macapagal-Arroyo or Estrada.

Estrada, accused of enriching himself off bribes and kickbacks while in office, wants to regain lost political clout. Aides have said a victory by his candidates would help vindicate the once-immensely popular action film star.

Mrs. Estrada has been implicated in some of the corruption allegations against her husband but she has said she and her husband weren't guilty of any wrongdoing. The Department of Justice issued an order last month barring Estrada, his wife and 22 other people from leaving the Philippines during an investigation of the criminal allegations against him.

Many say Mrs. Estrada, an active charity worker when her husband was in power and who listed her profession as "doctor," has good chances in the polls although her husband's political party has seen better days.

Estrada has rapidly lost his political base. Two major political parties and many influential politicians distanced themselves from him before and after his ouster.

Left-wing groups also vow to campaign against Estrada candidates. Activists rallied at the Commission on Elections earlier Monday, holding up placards that read "Junk Erap's Candidates!" Erap is the ex-president's popular nickname.

Estrada's ouster was likened to the overthrow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos by a "people power" uprising in 1986.