1998: Philippines

Estrada's Presidency

1998: Philippines: Former Actor Estrada Wins Presidency

1. 1.      Joseph Estrada, a former motion-picture star and incumbent vice president, on May 11, 1998, defeated 11 other candidates to win a six-year term as president of the Philippines.
   2.      Estrada, 61, ran as the candidate of the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino (LAMMP, The Fight of the Nationalist Filipino Masses) party. His closest rival was Jose de Venecia, speaker of the House of Representatives and the candidate of a coalition comprised of Lakas ng EDSA (Lakas, People Power of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue), National Union of Christian Democrats (NUCD), and the Union of Muslim Democrats of the Philippines (UDMP).
   3.      Voters also chose a new vice president as well as numerous other national and local officials. The winner in the vice-presidential race was Senator Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Lakas-NUCD-UDMP candidate. The total election turnout was estimated at 80 percent of registered voters.
   4.      Estrada is popularly known as Erap (Pare, which means “buddy,” spelled backwards), and first held political office as mayor of San Juan de Monte, a municipality of Manila, the capital, from 1969 to 1986. He then served as a senator from 1987 to 1992 before being elected vice president in 1992. Many analysts and business leaders initially feared that Estrada's lack of economic expertise could damage the Philippine economy, but Estrada's selection of respected economic advisors allayed many of those fears. Estrada's campaign pledges included promises to reduce poverty and hunger, and to crack down on corruption and crime.