BIRTHDAY boy Mayor Joseph Estrada shares a laugh with his candidate for the presidency, Sen. Grace Poe, whose praises he sung at his birthday bash on Tuesday. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said on Tuesday that his goddaughter Sen. Grace Poe would continue what he and his best friend, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., started and failed to accomplish.
“Pareho kami naalis ni FPJ. Si Grace na lang ang magdadala at gaganti… Alam niya kung anong gagawin para sa masang Pilipino (We were both ousted. Grace will take over and avenge us. She knows what should be done for the masses),” Estrada said during his 79th birthday celebration at the Century Park Hotel in Malate.
Estrada dedicated his 10-minute speech during the event to endorsing Poe, who is running for the presidency, by talking about her and her father.
“Her father was always boasting about her which is why I know she was brought up well,” he told the audience.
“She’s not a politician and if you look at her platform, she’s better than the other candidates. She also studied political science at Boston College. She’s a mixture of brains and talent,” Estrada said.
He also reminisced about his friendship with FPJ whom he described as more than his brother. “Even Susan (Roces, FPJ’s wife) would get jealous [of me] sometimes,” Estrada said as the audience laughed. “I would not be able to find another friend like him,” he added.
Estrada said that in all his campaigns—from a seat in the Senate to the presidency—FPJ was with him. “He accompanied me as I went from house to house; he never left me.”
Estrada was removed from office in 2001 amid allegations of kickbacks and commissions from jueteng and the tobacco excise tax. He was jailed, convicted of plunder in 2007 only to be pardoned by his predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
In 2004, FPJ ran for president against Arroyo but lost in an election tainted by allegations of cheating. He filed an election protest but died several months later due to a stroke before it could be resolved.
Estrada finished his speech by asking the audience to vote for Poe who, according to him, would follow in her father’s steps.
“I am telling you the truth. No one else will do what should be done for the good of the Filipinos except Grace Poe,” he told the crowd.
In endorsing Poe last month, Estrada said that one of his considerations was his gratitude to his best friend, her father.
Poe, meanwhile, thanked him for his support and vowed to double the assistance given to Manila should she be elected president.