Joseph Estrada (1998-2001)
Gains and accomplishments of the
government
Explanations for the limited or lack of gains
and accomplishments of the government
Areas of continuing concern or problem
Suggestions or recommendations (political or
constitutional reform, or both)
Joseph Estrada won presidency capitalizing on his
popularity as a movie actor with popular trademark
“Erap para sa mahirap” or Erap for the Poor.
Estrada administration also embarked on two other
programs to agrarian reform and urban poor
housing.
Estrada’s Chief of Staff Aprodicio Laquian pointed
to Estrada’s Limited policy perspective as a factor
for the failure of his antipoverty program. Estrada
was well known as an actor in the Philippines
before he entered politics. He called the presidency
“the greatest role of my life.” Even so he sometimes
acted if politics was all a big joke. Once he said,
"Why do we pass all these laws when nobody
seems to follow them." His trademark was a white
wristband.
After Estrada won the presidency his term was cut
on January 2001 due to accused of illegal
amassing wealth through kickbacks and
commissions from Jueteng operations, stocks
manipulate, and tobacco excise taxes.
Estrada Administration focus on the fighting poverty
However such agenda never reached fruition
because of the corrupt populist claiming to help the
poor while he made himself rich.
the Agrarian reform and urban poor housing the
results of its was describe that Estrada if anything ,
worse than the Ramos who never claimed that
Among the major Asian countries, the Estrada
administrations track record in terms of poverty
reduction was quite pathetic. Estrada was accused
of profiting from trading stock for BW Resources,
operator of an online bingo game, which shot up
5,000 percent and dropped just a quickly and
triggered the Philippines’ largest stock scandal ever
and almost caused the closure or the Philippines
stock market.
Erap involved himself too much in
micromanagement and showed an impatience for
policy discussions. He would get excited on the
projects, but not by programs. He preferred to tap
his reservoir of common sense rather than serious
studies. He demands instant result.
Erap felt sincerely for poor but he did not seem to
know how to deal with some the core issue of
poverty. Estrada’s tenure as president was short-
lived, however, as a corruption scandal erupted in
October 2000 when a fellow politician claimed that
Estrada had accepted millions of dollar worth of
bribes. In November the Philippine Senate began
an impeachment trial, but it was abandoned after
some senators blocked the admission of
evidence. Estrada started out as his political
career as mayor of San Juan, a neighboring city of
Manila that he served for 17 years. After Monday’s
midterm elections, it appears the 76-year-old
movie-actor-turned-politician could possibly end his
political career as mayor of the Philippine capital.
He have known how truly hopeless the poor and
understand how poverty work and how to solved it.