This time, JV says he’s not yielding to Jinggoy

If both former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and reelectionist Sen. JV Ejercito win in next year’s midterm polls, Filipinos will see for the first time two siblings, though estranged half-brothers, taking their Senate seats together.

However, Ejercito, the younger of the two sons of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, appears to have more hurdles to overcome, including what name to use during the campaign and his relatively low ranking in a recent survey.

In a radio interview on Saturday, Ejercito said he was determined to run and would not succumb to pressure and give way again to his brother.

“I’m afraid that no one might continue what I’ve begun to pursue. In my heart, I know I can do a lot more. I don’t want my efforts to go to waste. I want to make a difference,” he said.

Out of prison

Estrada, who is facing charges of plunder and graft in connection with the pork barrel scam, is out on bail. He said in an interview in August that he did not mind running alongside his brother, but hoped that Ejercito would keep his word that he would give way to him.

“When I got out of prison, I remember he gave out a press statement saying that if I decide to run for the Senate, he will make the ‘supreme sacrifice’ of not running. If that was true, I hope it really was,” Estrada said.

Ejercito said he wanted to discuss with his father his decision to run for reelection despite a possible showdown with his brother.

“I hope they understand that this time I have to stand for myself,” he said. “For quite a few times, I’ve chosen to give way to avoid a situation where we would argue. I’m often bullied, and I often give way. But I have to stand by my principles.”

Ejercito on Thursday said he would again use “Estrada” as he did when he first ran for the Senate in 2013. He was listed as “JV Ejercito Estrada” in the ballot then.

In Saturday’s radio interview, he said he was still mulling over whether to use Estrada for better name recall and also so that it would not appear that he had “totally cut ties” with his father.

Leaving Pa’s party

Ejercito recently left his father’s political party, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, to join the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

Adopting Estrada could become a problem for Ejercito this time because his brother has long been using that name, first as an actor, then as mayor of San Juan City for three terms and later as two-term senator.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson James Jimenez said it was possible that someone might file a nuisance candidate case against Ejercito for using Estrada.

Jimenez said one ground for declaring a candidate a nuisance was the adoption of a name “to create confusion.”

Ejercito acknowledged that gunning for the Senate alongside his brother could confuse voters.

Nuisance

During the 2007 midterm polls, the Comelec declared Joselito Pepito Cayetano a nuisance candidate after then Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano complained.

Two recent commissioned surveys by Social Weather Stations showed Estrada within the so-called Magic 12 of the Senate while Ejercito was outside the winners’ circle, landing in the 13th to 16th place.

No two siblings have ever been elected in the same election for the Senate in the country.

Ejercito, who landed 11th in the 2013 Senate election, joined his brother, who placed second in his reelection in 2010.

Cayetano was third placer in the 2013 election, joining his sister, Pia, who landed sixth in the 2010 election.

Estrada joined his mother, Loi Ejercito Estrada, who was elected senator in 2001, when he was first elected to the Senate in 2004. —With Inquirer Research