FVR dares Erap: Let's run together

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Fidel Ramos yesterday challenged former President Joseph Estrada to a 57-kilometer “jog” from Malacañang to Tanay, Rizal after the latter belittled him on his capability to seek the presidency again in 2010.

Estrada, 72, earlier branded his predecessor as “amoy lupa” (literally, smelling like soil, which implies that one has a foot in the grave) in reference to Ramos’ age of 81. If Ramos runs again, Estrada said he would win handily even if he gave Ramos four million votes.

“If he (Estrada) wants, the two of us could run from Malacañang all the way to Tanay, Rizal. But of course, not really running all the way… some might collapse. I’m giving him a lead of six years of age,” Ramos told reporters in his office in Makati City.

The race, if it would push through, however, could take days as Ramos admitted that it would not be all running but there would be “walking” and “sleeping” also or else either of them could “collapse.”

Estrada was detained in his resthouse in Tanay for some years during his trial for plunder. While in detention, he would roam his sprawling property aboard a golf cart and count his ducks.

He also had his kneecap replaced with a titanium one in surgery abroad.

Ramos is known to be a health buff and jogs daily but once had surgery for a blocked carotid artery when he was still president.

Estrada, however, was known for his drinking sprees with buddies until the wee hours of the morning while still at the Palace.

The last known medical procedure performed on Ramos was the removal of warts on his chest.

Both leaders, however, continue to profess that they remain healthy.

Ramos said Estrada was within his right to “put out a message like that because that is his position.”

“I was not impeached. I was not charged in court for plunder. I was not convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment. That is his piece of cake,” Ramos said.

President Arroyo pardoned Estrada shortly after his conviction in 2007.

“Let him continue to say it. I think he is just using that as a means to promote his own candidacy over all the opposition whom he wants to unite kuno (supposedly),” he said.

Ramos said Estrada was making “all these wild announcements and prognostications” while he was busy promoting the Philippines abroad. – Paolo Romero