Devoted to saints, Estrada grows closer to Loi

MEXICO, Pampanga – Former President Joseph Estrada has developed a new devotion, and his wife Sen. Luisa "Loi" Ejercito is not jealous.

According to Ejercito, the former president has developed a devotion to another woman – Saint Philomena – and to St. Joseph, his namesake.

St. Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary, is said to be the patron saint of husbands wanting to turn a new leaf and also of wives wanting straying husbands to mend their ways.

"He prays and even does novenas," Ejercito, who was here for a medical mission at the Pandakaki resettlement, said.

The senator, who has been criticized by many women’s groups for tolerating Estrada’s philandering, said that her husband has also developed a devotion to Saints Philomena and Jenina and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

"We’re much closer than before because I frequently visit him," disclosed the former first lady, who has had to cope with Estrada’s philandering ways for decades. Estrada has publicly acknowledged fathering children aside from the three he has with his wife.

Mrs. Ejercito said her husband also no longer takes alcoholic beverages.

"He smokes, yes, but he definitely doesn’t drink," she said.

The former first lady said prayers have helped her cope with the pain of having both her husband and eldest son, former San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, in jail for non-bailable offenses.

She said that while she is still feeling her way in the Senate, where she is a member of the opposition, she has focused on her duties as chairman of the committee on youth, women and family relations.

Ejercito vowed to look into the law on marriage annulment, which she said should be accessible to both the rich and the poor. – Ding Cervantes