~~ AN IRRITATING LITTLE MAN ~~
MANILA, Philippines – Former President Joseph Estrada vowed yesterday to run for congressman of San Juan to block President Arroyo’s bid to become prime minister should her House allies succeed in establishing a parliamentary form of government through a constituent assembly.
“I can also easily run for Congress in San Juan to ensure that President Arroyo does not become prime minister,” Estrada said.
Administration officials are expected to contest Estrada’s congressional bid by claiming that he is barred from public office under the terms of the presidential pardon granted by Mrs. Arroyo.
The Sandiganbayan convicted Estrada of plunder but he was pardoned a month after his conviction in 2007. Estrada said he regained his political rights after his pardon.
This developed as gmanews.tv reported that the President’s eldest son Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo had hinted at running for governor of Pampanga. This could pave the way for his mother to replace him as the representative of Pampanga’s second district.
“If I follow my heart, I want a third term. But of course I won’t deny the fact that many of the political leaders there, even the clergy and those supporting, who support (Pampanga) Gov. (Ed) Panlilio, are egging me on to run because he’s a non-performing asset,” Mikey Arroyo told gmanews.tv.
It was United Opposition president and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay who first raised the scenario of Mrs. Arroyo running for a congressional seat in Pampanga in preparation for the establishment of a parliamentary system of government where she can emerge as prime minister.
“President Arroyo may opt to run for Congress to make herself House speaker, then prime minister,” Binay said.
Panlilio earlier said that Mrs. Arroyo had been visiting the second district of Pampanga in the past weeks apparently on unofficial campaign sorties.
“She’s the only president who has made 16 visits to Pampanga for four months, fourteen of which were done in the second district which includes, among others, Porac and Guagua,” Panlilio said. “She is eyeing the prime ministership. Street concreting and construction of covered courts are being made in Pampanga.”
“Becoming a congresswoman, then House speaker and then prime minister is one of her options in her desire to stay in power,” Panlilio said.
“The message here is still to stop con-ass or Cha-cha in any form. This is just to show that the idea of President Arroyo running for Congress to keep herself in power forever is an audacious if not a ridiculous idea,” Estrada spokesperson Margaux Salcedo said.
“If the administration insists on keeping Mrs. Arroyo in power beyond 2010 by a change to a parliamentary system of government and by making Mrs. Arroyo prime minister, they can be certain that the opposition is ready to counter their actions to ensure that she does not hold on to power forever,” Salcedo said.
Mikey Arroyo said he was preparing for his election bid.
Asked whether he would seek a gubernatorial post or a congressional seat, Mikey merely repeated, “election bid.”
President Arroyo currently has four relatives in the House of Representatives: Mikey, 40, on his second term as representative of Pampanga’s second district; another son Diosdado Macapagal Arroyo, 34 on his first term as representative of Camarines Sur’s 1st district; Ignacio Arroyo, 58, brother-in-law, on his second term as representative of Negros Occidental’s 5th district; and Ma. Lourdes T. Arroyo, sister-in-law, on her first term as representative of Kasangga party-list
In his interview with gmanews.tv, Mikey refused to call themselves a dynasty, saying a dynasty only exists if a number of family members get elected in one geographic area.
“We win, what can we do, my God. And we win in different places... so we are not a dynasty,” he said in Filipino.
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