Estrada hands down gag order on 2 feuding sons

Former president Joseph Estrada

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Protempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada said he would rather not discuss the meeting he had with his father, former President Joseph Estrada and half-brother San Juan Rep. Jose Victor “JV” Ejercito where the two sons were reportedly chastised for highlighting their “rift’ with reporters.

“I have a gag order,” Senator Estrada said with a sheepish grin in an ambush interview inside the session hall Monday afternoon.

The ex-president summoned his sons after the senator publicly announced Thursday that he felt slighted by JV’s comments about their “rift” in an interview with provincial reporters last month.

Senator Estrada earlier said that his father was caught off-guard when he said in a TV interview that he was “deeply hurt” that JV said they were not close. JV had already made a public apology to his senator-brother.

Minutes after his impromptu news conference last week, Senator Estrada said he already anticipated that the elder Estrada “would be disappointed if he reads about what I said, which is understandable.”

As expected, Estrada told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview Sunday that he would like both sons to refrain from saying anything more about their long-running feud.

Senator Estrada earlier said his “tepid relationship” with JV stemmed from their having different mothers.

Jinggoy is Estrada’s firstborn son with former Senator Luisa “Loi” Ejercito-Estrada while JV is the former president’s only child with San Juan mayor Guia Gomez.