Caveat Elector!

From the very start, it was bad taste for Joseph 'Erap' Estrada to run as mayor of Manila.  He was the country's head of state way back in 1998 until he was evicted from Malacañan in 2001. Put on house arrest, convicted for plunder (the crime booms like thunder!), and then pardoned by his predecessor, Erap has this mindset that he has done nothing wrong (Remember him saying: "Wala akong kasalanan!" at the height of his impeachment?).  So much so that he ran for president in 2010 (ignoring one of the conditions of his pardon).  Had Noynoy not run and won, we would have Erap back on the throne!

As though not learning enough from his debacle in 2010, he's now eyeing the mayorship of Manila. And to quash any charges that may possibly hail him to court on his residency, he had a house built in Manila last year.

Why Manila? Well, it has been said that if you are mayor of the nation's capital, you are, one way or another, like the President of the Philippines.  Another reason, which I like to believe is in Erap's agenda, is to use the mayoral post as a spring board back to Malacañan. Alfredo Lim, Manila's incumbent Mayor and Erap's rival for the post, tried that in 1998, but did not succeed.

Traditionally, Philippine presidents assume a 'senior statesman role' once their term of office expires.  Look at Elpidio Quirino, Cory Aquino, and Fidel Ramos. Look too at their foreign counterparts: USA's Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Bill Clinton; and UK's Margaret Thatcher, and Tony Blair. They retired as private citizens and did their best to serve the country in other ways. This tradition was broken by Gloria Arroyo and Erap, two known gahamans (greedy people) of the Philippines.

Wikipedia stated: In October 2010, Foreign Policy (magazine)[44] included Estrada in its list of five former head of states/governments who did not make "a positive difference in the world", but "faded away into obscurity." Also included in this "Bad Exes" list were Thailand's Thaksin Shinawatra, Spain's Jose Maria Aznar, and Germany's Gerhard Schroder.

A bad ex (president), an ex con(vict),  a leader who claims to be pro-poor, but actually uses the poor to advance his own agenda (not to mention a known womanizer who sired children from different mothers).  Is Manila - one of the cities that rose to oust Erap in 2001- willing gamble its freedom to vote for such a candidate?

As I once commented in Facebook, "Yung baho sa San Juan, huwag nang dalhin pa sa Maynila" (Leave the stench of San Juan where it is. Don't bring it to Manila).
Caveat elector! (Voter beware!)