October 20, 2009, 6:50pm
Former President Joseph Estrada, forced to walk through the political wilderness by those who profited in the 2001 power grab that saw the 10.8 million popular votes from the nation’s poorest of the poor taken away from him, declares to the nation this Wednesday his decision to run in next year’s May elections as the chase for the 2010 presidential crown begins.“In announcing my decision to run for the highest position of the land, I consign myself to the judgment of history,” Estrada said, adding he is more than prepared to face the rough road ahead, stressing such is the nature of contemporary politics.
The popular opposition leader will also announce today Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay as his running-mate for vice-president.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, Representative Bongbong Marcos, and imprisoned Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim lead Estrada’s powerhouse senatorial slate.
According to Estrada, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago is a guest senatorial candidate under his Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) line-up.
Also to be declared senatorial candidates are Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin, lawyer Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, Joey de Venecia, and Grace Poe.
Estrada’s announcement ends months of public speculation and anxiety among his millions of admirers and supporters on one hand, as it opens a window of deep concern among other presidential aspirants on the other hand with his decision highly expected to inject more intensity into both aisles of the political spectrum.
In a Bulletin interview on the eve of his public announcement, Estrada admitted the deep political divide he vainly tried to unify which continues to engender disunity in the ranks of the opposition ranks, became the crux that forced him to decide to run for the No. 1 position of the nation.
With Estrada’s throwing his hat into the 2010 presidential derby, “the political battleground is now widely open,” said a leading political analyst.
Several political analysts have contended that the long-awaited Estrada decision, signals major changes in the plans and modes of political strategy among other presidential aspirants who have long started their campaign to capture next year’s presidential trophy in a tidal wave of television commercials costing hundreds of millions of pesos.
His decision, they said, is seen to unleash a flood of political unrest among those who were in the forefront of their presidential aspirations and operations way ahead of time.
Despite his having been thrown into jail by the Arroyo government after it shortened his six-year term, Estrada has remained the popular crowd pleaser that he has always been, always mobbed by thousands of ordinary people around the country.
His almost seven years in jail, according to Estrada, gave him the needed time for both spiritual and physical preparedness for any future plans he may decided to take.
Asked if he ever lost faith while in jail, Estrada said he never lost trust in Divine Providence, always believing that somehow the wheels of justice would keep on moving.
“As the popular saying goes, the wheels of justice may grind slow, but they grind fine,” he said.
Although the Arroyo government succeeded in having him convicted but later pardoned, Estrada said he believes there will be that day “when the truth will set me free.”
He also discussed his party-mates’ concern over the novelty and challenges of next year’s automated electoral polls, saying “they can cheat all they can, once, or twice, but they cannot do it all the time.”
Source: http://mb.com.ph/articles/225666/estrada-run-president-2010-elections
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