JOSEPH MARCELO“ ERAP” EJERCITO

ESTRADA
APRIL 19, 1937

THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE FIFTH

Joseph Estrada, original name Joseph Marcelo
Ejercito, in the Tondo district of Manila, Philippines,
on April 19, 1937. 

He belonged to upper-middle-class family Estrada’s

father, and was the eighth of ten children of Emilio
Ejercito, Sr., a government engineer and his mother
was named Maria Marcelo, a housewife.

He was expelled during his primary studies at

the Ateneo de Manila University and subsequently
enrolled in an engineering course at the Mapua
Institute of Technology.
To his parents’ grave disappointment, Estrada dropped out
after three years and was the only one of his siblings not to
receive a college diploma

He is married to former First Lady-turned-senator Dra.

Luisa “Loi” Pimentel with whom he has three children
named
•Jose "Jinggoy" Ejercito, Jr, Mayor of San Juan (1992–2001);
Senator (2004–present) (married to Precy Vitug)
•Jackie Ejercito (married to Beaver Lopez, son
of Meralco chairman Manuel Lopez)
•Jude Ejercito (married to Rowena Ocampo)

Has one child with live-in partner actress Guia Gomez and
two children with live-in partner Laarni Enriquez.
Used to work as an ambulance driver before trying his hand
on acting.

Over the course of his prolific film career, Estrada has acted
the lead role in more than 80 films made in the Philippines,
and has also produced more than 70 movies.

He was awarded Best Actor and Best Film awards by the
Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Science (FAMAS) five
times each, earning him spots in the FAMAS Hall of Fame in
both 1981 and 1984.
Politics:

In 1967, Estrada used his popularity with audiences to

garner votes in the San Juan mayoral elections and served
as mayor for 17 years, during which time he focused
largely on education and health care reform.

In 1987, Estrada became a national politician when he

took a seat in the Philippine Senate and his five-year stint
in the Senate, Estrada served as chairman of the
Committee on Rural Development and Committee on
Cultural Communities, as well as the vice chair of the
Committee on Health and Committee on Natural
Resources and Ecology.

In 1992 Estrada ran for vice president and won.

 He retained the position for  the next six years. As vice
president, Estrada led the Presidential Anti-Crime
Commission and was responsible for a number of high-
profile criminal arrests.

 Estrada’s 1998 presidential campaign was centered on this

same law-and-order platform and despite accusations of
electoral fraud, Estrada won the presidency by a landslide,
leaving his closest competitor, Jose de Venecia, in the dust.

 During Estrada’s administration, he improved the country’s

tax collection system and worked toward demilitarizing the
Philippine government.
On April 25, 2001, Estrada was arrested on charges of plunder
that his political adversaries had filed against him.

After a long and humiliating trial, Estrada was imprisoned in

Tanay for six years and was eventually released based on an
unconditional pardon in October of 2007.

Following his release from prison, Estrada has worked for a

number of local humanitarian causes, including disaster-relief
missions and programs that strive to help the poor by
eradicating hunger.
In 2010, he ran for president again but came in second to Benigno Aquino III in
the general elections.