Ejercito-Estrada Political Dynasty

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Ejercito-Estrada Political Dynasty

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Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………...…............................................................ 3

Background of the Family…………………………………………………………………..…..................................................... 4

Political History……………………………………………………………………………...…........................................................... 5

Issues Associated with the Family……………………………………………….…………................................................... 6

Conclusion....................................................................…………………………………………............................................ 7

Visual Aids ……………………………………………………………………………………............................................................... 8

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Introduction

As stated in Article II Section 26 of The Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law,” political dynasties are a violation of the law of the land thus they must be eradicated, yet until this day, there is no proper law that has been passed addressing this issue in Philippine politics. These political clans continue to grow more and more each day, one of which is the infamous Ejercito-Estrada clan.

Dubbed as one of the “original” heartthrobs of Pinoy showbiz, and acting in over a hundred movies whilst producing more than half of them, it is no surprise that Joseph Ejercito-Estrada, also known as Erap, could have easily charmed millions of people during the elections. With very loyal supporters, it was fairly simple for someone like Erap, an actor-turned-politician, to have begun one of the Philippines’ most prominent political dynasties.

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Background of the

Ejercito-Estrada Family

The Ejercito-Estrada political clan owes its success to José Marcelo Ejercito who paved the way for the beginning of their political dynasty. He was born on April 19, 1937, making him the eighth child of Engineer Emilio Ejercito Sr. and his wife Maria Marcelo. He had his primary education in Ateneo de Manila, as well as his secondary education, but was dismissed during his second year for unruly behavior. He took up a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering course at the Mapúa Institute of Technology but then dropped out. Estrada had other plans and instead wanted to pursue a career in acting and film production. Due to his parents’ opposition to his chosen career, he was forbidden from using his family name and had to use the screen name, Joseph Estrada. He was also given the nickname "Erap,” a play on the Tagalog slang "pare", meaning 'buddy' or ‘friend’ thanks to his colleague Fernando Poe Jr., which then became the name that he was most known for among the Filipino masses. He had his acting debut with the film Kandelerong Pilak (Silver Candlesticks), a Lamberto Avellana 1954 classic. Estrada became the lead actor of over a hundred movies and took part in producing more than half of them. After 33 years in the entertainment industry, he received five Best Actor Awards from the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences and was placed in the FAMAS Hall of Fame twice—in 1981 and 1984.

He is married to psychiatrist Dr. Luisa Pimentel-Ejercito, and they have a total of three children: Jose "Jinggoy" Ejercito Jr., Jackie Ejercito, and Jude Ejercito. Erap also engaged in several extramarital affairs, and had 5 other partners: former actresses, Peachy Osario and Laarni Enriquez, former San Juan City Mayor, Guia Gomez, and flight attendants named Larena and Joy. He had eight other children namely: Joel Eduardo "Jojo" Ejercito, Teresita "Tetchie" Ejercito, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Jason Ejercito, Jerika Ejercito, Juan Emilio "Jake" Ejercito, Jacob Ejercito, and Joma Ejercito.

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Political History

Erap Estrada was slowly making a name for himself in Philippine Filmdom and then decided to enter the political arena a few years later. He first took office as San Juan’s 14th mayor, which he governed for around 16 consecutive years from 1969 to 1986. He was also recognized as Outstanding Mayor and Foremost Nationalist by the Inter-Provincial Information Service in 1971 and hailed Most Outstanding Metro Manila Mayor by the Philippines Princeton Poll in 1972.

He became a senator of the 8th Congress from 1987 to 1992 under the Grand Alliance for Democracy (GAD) party. Estrada was appointed as the Chairman of the committees on Cultural, Rural Development, and Public Works, as well as the Vice-Chairman of the Committees on Health, Natural Resources, and Urban Planning. During his term, some of his notable contributions to legislation were passing bills on irrigation projects, the protection and propagation of carabaos, the beast of burden in the rural areas, and when he voted to terminate the RP-US Military Bases Agreement, which led to the historic withdrawal of American servicemen from the Clark Air Base in Pampanga and the Subic Naval Base in Zambales. In 1989, he was cited by the Philippine Free Press as one of the “Three Outstanding Senators of the Year”.

In 1992, Estrada ran for vice presidency of which he won under the Nationalist People’s Coalition Party (NPC). He was the country’s 9th vice president and served until 1998. During the Ramos administration, he was a member of the National Security Council. He also organized the Citizens Movement for Justice, Economy, Environment, and Peace (JEEP) and was the chairman of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC).

In 1998, Estrada ran for presidency with his famous slogan “Erap para sa mahirap,” meaning “Erap for the poor,” which easily captured the hearts of eleven million voters, giving him the largest margin of victory in electoral history garnering forty percent of the votes. He became the country’s 13th president, but also had the shortest presidency in history. In January of 2001, Estrada was ousted from office due to corruption allegations and protests from the public.

After a few years, Estrada ran for the presidency again in 2009 but was defeated by Benigno S. Aquino III. In 2013, he became Manila’s 26th mayor and served for two terms (2013-2019). Hoping to stay in office and have his third term as mayor, he ran again in 2019 but was defeated by Francisco Moreno Domagoso.

His wife became the Second Lady of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998, and then became the 12th First Lady of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001. She also served as a Senator from 2001 to 2007 and became Manila’s First Lady from 2013 to 2019.

Two of Estrada’s children also entered politics. Jinggoy Ejercito, Jr., his first-born was Mayor of San Juan from 1992 to 2001 and Senator from 2004 to 2016. JV Ejercito, his son with former San Juan City Mayor Guia Gomez, was also Mayor of San Juan from 2001 to 2010, a Representative of San Juan City from 2010 to 2013, and a Senator from 2013 to 2019.

He also has other relatives in politics namely: E.R. Ejercito who was Mayor of Pagsanjan, Laguna (2001–2010) and Governor of Laguna (2010–2014), Gary Ejercito who is a board member of Quezon province, and Janella Estrada who was San Juan’s Vice Mayor.

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Issues Associated with the Family

Among all the issues associated with the Ejercito-Estrada clan, there are two of which are the most notable: Erap Estrada’s plunder case and Jinggoy Estrada’s involvement in the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam also called the pork barrel scam.

At a hearing in the House of Representatives in October 2000, Chavit Singson, a Filipino politician, linked then-incumbent President Joseph Estrada to jueteng, an illegal numbers game. Singson called him the "lord of all jueteng lords,” and even accused him of embezzling ₱130 million in tobacco excise tax. This sparked impeachment proceedings against Estrada presided by Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., and senators acting as judges in the impeachment court. Estrada’s grounds for impeachment were: bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of The Constitution. During one of his trials, the then senior vice president of Equitable-PCI Bank revealed what she knew about the fictitious Jose Velarde bank account with around ₱3.2 billion, which was said to be Estrada’s ill-gotten wealth. She said Estrada and Jose Velarde were the same person, claiming she saw him sign "Jose Velarde" on bank documents. She brought an envelope containing incriminating evidence against him to court, but the hearing abruptly ended when prosecutors walked out of the proceedings after Estrada’s senator allies voted against opening it.

For 4 days hundreds of thousands of people rallied in EDSA to call for Estrada’s resignation in the so-called 2nd People Power Revolution or EDSA II. On January 20, Estrada’s constitutional successor, then-Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was sworn into office as the 14th president of the Philippines, and a few hours later Estrada and his family fled Malacañan. In April 2001, Estrada was arrested, while his supporters protested and amassed in what would be called EDSA III, which lasted nearly 4 days. Estrada was supposedly under house arrest until September 2007 when the Sandiganbayan found him guilty of plunder and capital offense, while the Anti-graft court sentenced him to life imprisonment but allowed him to remain under house arrest pending his appeal. Unfortunately, more than a month after his guilty verdict, Arroyo granted him a pardon.

Estrada’s eldest child, Jinggoy Estrada was also involved in corruption allegations in 2014 for “stealing” ₱183.79 million from his discretionary funds in a scandal known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam or the pork barrel scam. This involved public officials giving their pork barrel funds to Janet Lim-Napoles’ non-existent non-government organizations in exchange for kickbacks. On June 23, 2014, Estrada was arrested and detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

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Conclusion

Political dynasties are one of the many so-called “kansers ng ating lipunan,” meaning “cancers of our society.” Despite having its pros and cons, nonetheless, it is very vulnerable to safeguarding potential corruption and criminal activities that some politicians may take part in, knowing that they always have an enormous clan to back them up. During elections, it undermines the competency of the candidates and instead turns into a popularity vote, with those belonging to a prominent political dynasty having the upper hand.

The rapid growth of the Ejercito-Estrada clan is impressive, which is why it’s also terrifying at the same time. Knowing that it all began from an actor-turned-politician, Erap Estrada, who owes his fame to his many fruitful years in the entertainment industry, makes me deeply question the ability of the Filipino masses to vote wisely based on capability, not popularity. The government is supposed to be for the people, meaning their voices must be heard and they are represented well, yet how do you expect them to vote for a good candidate when their options are limited to the same birds of a feather throughout the years, who usually prevent socio-economic development and political maturity to help their clan retain power.

It’s quite unfortunate that there is still no law that parallels the mandate of The Constitution regarding political dynasties, but it’s far more devastating that our legislators continue to neglect this issue in Philippine politics because a majority of them benefit from these.

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