WORLD BRIEFING / THE PHILIPPINES
Ousted Philippine President Joseph Estrada declared his intention to run in next year’s presidential election despite legal challenges and immediate objections to his political comeback.
The onetime action film star announced his plans before thousands in Manila’s Tondo slum district.
Estrada railed at the poverty that afflicts a third of the Philippines’ 90 million people as well as at government corruption, crime and untamed Muslim rebellion in the country’s south. He introduced his vice presidential candidate, Jejomar Binay, who is mayor of Manila’s central business district, Makati.
Estrada, 72, resigned amid massive anti-corruption protests in 2001 after serving only half of his six-year term. He was convicted of economic plunder in 2007, but was pardoned by his successor and nemesis, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
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