Erap can still run in 2010 presidential elections - Puno

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Joseph Estrada can still run for president in the May 2010 polls and his grant of pardon will not be an impediment to his political plans, according to Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

Puno was instrumental in facilitating the pardon of Estrada in 2007 after he was convicted by the Sandiganbayan. “Personally I don’t believe that the grant of clemency is going to be an impediment to his running. Notwithstanding the ‘whereas’ clause which explains that he did not, at that time, intend to run for president,” said Puno. “I don’t believe that the whereases limits the dispositive portions of the executive clemency, since it specifically returned to him his full civil and political rights. So insofar as that particular grant of executive clemency is concerned, I don’t believe there is anything in it that will inhibit Estrada from running again,” Puno told reporters during the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) gathering in Makati City the other day.

“The question really is whether people will believe that he is still the correct man to run the government, he will have to prove that again,” added Puno.

Estrada said he is 99.9 percent sure of running for president in the May 2010 elections unless the opposition unites and fields a single candidate. Yesterday, Estrada insisted that he is eligible to run in the 2010 presidential derby.

At the debate on whether he could run or not, Estrada maintained that there are no provisions in the Constitution that would bar him from seeking the presidency next year.

“For me, the prohibitions in running again only apply to the incumbent president because of undue advantage. She could use the fertilizer fund, the road user’s tax and other government funds,” Estrada said in his usual slurred speech.

Estrada also argued that he could use the Supreme Court ruling in the case of his friend, the late movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. whose citizenship issue, the High Court ruled, should depend on the people’s decision to vote for him or not.

“Ang taong bayan ang dapat mag desisyon (The people should decide),” Estrada said.

But election lawyer Romeo Macalintal said the SC’s ruling on Poe’s case could not apply to the case of Estrada.

He said the Poe case was about citizenship while the case of the former president is regarding re-election.

“He (Estrada) has taken an oath of office to abide by the provisions of the Constitution which included that he is not eligible for re-election,” Macalintal said.

He added that President Arroyo, who was then Estrada’s vice president, was only continuing the unfinished term of Estrada when he was ousted in 2001, exempting her from being covered by the four-year clause provided in the Constitution.

Close buddies

Puno and Estrada are close friends and it was the former who led Estrada’s strategists when he ran and won in the May 1998 presidential elections.

“Knowing him, he will run, but whether or not he will be able to convince our people is another matter. The survey showed he has a long way to go,” Puno said.

When Estrada ran in 1998, the main concern was the definition of issues, particularly his concern for the poor, he said.

Puno explained that the objective of the exercise in 1998 was to really position Estrada as the champion of the poor. “Now, I don’t know how you will change that, no matter what you do, Erap will always be identified with the poor, so there’s no great mystery in the strategy.”

“I think that if he runs, he will still talk that same way, when he proposes a program, I’m sure it will also have the same substance that it did before,” said Puno. 

He believed Estrada’s popularity would not be affected by the latest exposé of Sen. Panfilo Lacson linking him to the Dacer-Corbito double murder and the Edgar Bentain abduction and murder cases.

“My personal belief is he (Estrada) will not be affected,” said Puno, who explained that the issues raised by Lacson, particularly the sale of PLDT shares of stock, were issues among the rich. On the accusation of murder, “there was no case in court to pin down Estrada,” he said.

“I did not resign from my post”

Estrada insisted that he did not resign from his post as President but was merely “on leave” when he left Malacañang in January 2001 during Edsa People Power II.

“I never resigned. I’m only on leave. I was never convicted in the impeachment trial,” Estrada reiterated.

Pacifico Agabin, Estrada’s legal counsel, argued that his client could still run for reelection since Estrada only served less than four years in office.

“The term ‘President’ refers only to the sitting president and not the former president,” Agabin said.