MANILA
- Former Philippine president Joseph
Estrada, deposed by the military 11 years ago halfway into his term, said
Thursday he wants to become the city mayor of the capital Manila.
After
losing by a few million votes to incumbent Filipino leader Benigno Aquino in
his second bid for the presidency in the 2010 election, the still hugely
popular ex-movie star says lowering his sights may be the way to go.
"I
am thinking about it. Right now the odds are 50-50 that I will run," he
told AFP in a telephone interview on his 75th birthday.
"I
am still healthy and I can still serve, there is nothing wrong with that. I
started out as a mayor and so I will likely finish my career as a mayor."
Estrada
believes he has what it takes to run the country's main city.
He
parlayed his show business fame playing the champion of the downtrodden to
enter politics as a town mayor in a Manila suburb in the 1960s.
He was
later elected senator and then vice president, before being overwhelmingly
elected as the country's leader in 1998.
His
presidency however was cut short nearly halfway through his six-year term by a
bloodless revolt sparked by allegations of massive corruption.
After a
six-year trial during which he was put on house arrest, he was convicted of
corruption in 2007 but was quickly pardoned by his successor, Gloria Arroyo.
Throughout
his legal troubles and despite his conviction, Estrada retained his massive
popularity by playing the role of the underdog that many in this impoverished
country sympathised with.
The
self-confessed former womaniser and heavy drinker has always maintained that
his ouster was a product of a conspiracy between the political elite, the
influential Catholic church and the rich who disliked his populist ideas.
He set
to prove this by contesting the presidency in 2010, where he surprisingly
placed second in a field of nine candidates.
Estrada
on Thursday said he no longer entertained thoughts of running again for a
national post, but stressed his strong showing in 2010 indicated the public
still wanted him to serve.
"Official
titles no longer mean anything to me," Estrada said. "But if I could
still help by running our biggest city, why not?"
AFP
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