Palace downplays Erap plan for 2010

Malacañang reminded ousted President Joseph Estrada yesterday that the Constitution bars him from running again for the presidency in 2010.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the 70-year-old Estrada does not seem to be serious in his statements that he will make a comeback since he is fully aware of the legal and constitutional impediments.

“Former President Estrada is his own man, and we cannot fault him for making such statements,” Ermita said in a telephone interview.

“Let’s give it to him. He has his own plans, however, the way I see it, he is just trying to regain his support from the masses.”

Ermita said Estrada’s moving around, giving gifts and speeches, was not exactly early campaigning, but rather he wants to “return to the masses that had placed him where he is now.”

“He has been detained for six years, he might be wanting to regain his former popular status,” he said.

However, Estrada said the constitutional ban on presidential reelection does not apply to him because the people power revolt in January 2001 prevented him from completing his six-year term as president.

During the People Asia magazine’s “People of the Year” awards at the Hotel InterContinental in Makati Thursday night, Estrada said he would rather pick himself to lead the country than entrust the task to any of today’s presidential aspirants.

None of them were winnable so he would run for office himself, he added.

Other special guests were Vice President Noli de Castro, Senators Manuel Roxas II, Loren Legarda and Jinggoy Estrada, and Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto.

Legarda and Santos were among the awardees.

Earlier, Estrada said he would run for president in 2010 if the opposition fails to unite behind a single standard-bearer.

He is qualified to run in 2010 despite his conviction for plunder by the Sandiganbayan, he added.

Estrada said the executive clemency granted him by President Arroyo has already restored his political rights, among them his right to vote or to run for public office.

He was able to vote in the last barangay elections, he added.