Former president Joseph Estrada is barred from seeking “any” reelection by the Philippine Constitution as well as the terms and conditions of the pardon extended to him by President Gloria Arroyo. This much was made clear by the Arroyo administration Saturday as it rejected the Estrada camp's attempt to gather at least six million signatures of Filipinos supporting a presidential bid by Estrada in 2010. The former president celebrated his 71st birthday Saturday by mingling with the slum dwellers of Manila and giving them packs of rice and other grocery items. He was accompanied by his wife, former Senator Loi Estrada, who led a medical mission in a depressed community in Tondo, Manila. Earlier on Friday, Estrada visited slum communities in Taytay, Rizal province where most of the informal settlers in his San Juan hometown were transferred by the government. Arroyo's top aides said Estrada was obviously testing his popularity again by visiting poor communities in the Philippines, with an eye towards the 2010 presidential election. “I wish him (Estrada) ... a long life and long memory,” presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said. Bunye said one of the conditions in the pardon granted to Estrada is not to seek reelection. “That's why that was my wish so that he (Estrada) would remember what was agreed upon,” he said. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita belittled the signature campaign by Estrada's supporters, saying it's useless. “Whether there will be so many people who would wish him to run again, the important thing is what is in the Constitution,” Ermita said. He said the former president is obviously making an effort to generate momentum that could trigger a clamor for him to run again. __
