The 75-year-old actor-turned
politician vowed he had the energy to return to politics, and was ready to turn
around the fortunes of the country's rundown capital.
"I am still strong, and I
will not stop serving the people until the end," Estrada told AFP shortly
after registering his candidacy to run for mayor of Manila in midterm elections
next year.
"Manila needs a change.
There is urban decay, people are without jobs, the government is in
deficit."
Estrada said that, if he won,
he would continue his programmes for the poor that were halted when an uprising
forced him to step down down as president in 2001, only halfway through his
six-year term.
Estrada was convicted in 2007
of corruption for plunder and taking kickbacks worth tens of millions of
dollars while president. But his successor, Gloria Arroyo, quickly pardoned
him.
Estrada, whose enduring
popularity derives from an acting career in which he typically played heroes of
the poor, finished second in the 2010 presidential race won by incumbent
Benigno Aquino.
Estrada has said repeatedly
that result vindicated his stance that powerful political and business figures
had conspired to oust him from power unfairly.
Some of the roughly 500
supporters who crowded around Estrada as he registered at the election office
on Tuesday also said he had been framed for corruption.
"I don't believe he was
involved. That was just black propaganda," said April Medina, 28, an
unemployed mother of a baby boy.
Many of Manila's 1.6 million
people live in slums, and large parts of the the city where the country's former
colonial Spanish rulers were based are dilapidated.
Estrada's main opponent will be
Alfredo Lim, 82, the incumbent mayor who is also very popular with the masses.
Lim, a former policeman, earned
the nickname of "Dirty Harry" in the 1990s during an initial stint as
mayor for closing down Manila's strip bars and marking the homes of suspected
drug pushers with spray paint.
Many other colourful figures
have hit the headlines during this week's registration period for the midterm
elections.
Imelda Marcos, the 83-year-old
widow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, will run for re-election as a
congresswoman, her chief of staff told AFP on Monday.
World boxing champion Manny
Pacquiao later registered to run for re-election as congressman for the
southern province of Sarangani, with his wife Jinkee filing to stand for
vice-governor.
The boxer, whose victories in
the ring have made him a national hero, also announced that his youngest
brother Rogelio would run for congressman for the neighbouring province of
South Cotabato under his People's Champ Movement.
Many Philippine politicians
draft in relatives to stand for other elective positions to spread their
influence and strengthen their power networks.
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