Erap's birthday: A summit of titans
No less than President Rodrigo Duterte and a host of many political titans graced the celebration of Mayor Joseph's Estrada's 80th birthday celebration at the regal Manila Hotel last Wednesday night. The president was joined by former president, now Pampanga second district Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and the ever queenly-looking former first lady for twenty years, and now Ilocos Norte second district Rep. Imelda Romualdez-Marcos (former Miss Manila during the mayorship of the famous Arsenio "Arsenic" Lacson), as well as with senators Juan Ponce-Enrile, Bongbong Marcos, and Jinggoy Estrada (former senators, actually).
Also attending were former vice president Jojo Binay, and senators Manny Pacquiao and Richard Gordon, but my "deep throat spy" did not see Mayor Erap's other son Senator JV Ejercito. Also spotted were San Juan Vice Mayor Janella Ejercito, daughter of Senator Jinggoy. The mayor of that city, Guia Gomez, the mother Senator JV, did not come for obvious reasons. Former senator Dr. Loi Estrada, the original, was there, of course. Great celebrity entertainers made the night very lively; Lani Misalucha, the real soul diva; Martin Nievera, the concert king; and Sarah Geronimo. There were also smaller personalities in politics, music, and the arts. My spy could not name all of them. But Senator Joey Lina, the president and GM of Manila Hotel was there ready to sing a song.
No other mayor perhaps in the Philippines today could achieve that feat of gathering in one place such a distinguished lineup of political luminaries. Can you imagine President GMA sitting beside the former first lady? We recall that GMA's father, the late President Diosdado P. Macapagal was defeated by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1965 in a hotly contested election. The Marcoses of Ilocos and the Macapagals of Pampanga started as Liberal Party political allies but President Macapagal reneged on his commitment not to run for reelection. Thus, Marcos, then a senator, shifted to the Nacionalista Party and took away the chance to be the standard bearer from then vice president Emanuel Pelaez and former vice president (under President Quirino) Fernando Lopez.
Erap has never lost his charisma, his positive outlook and spontaneous capacity for forgiveness. Imagine sitting at the same dining table with GMA who ousted him from the presidency and "stole" more than one half of his term as head of state and head of government. Imagine also how Erap could reconcile with the Marcoses, when, as then Mayor of San Juan, Marcos used to harass him and persecute him. The good thing with Erap is that, unlike the Aquinos (the late President Cory, and PNoy who was not invited, by the way), Erap knows how to give, to forgive and to forget. To be 80 years old and still very much active in love and in politics, well, that may be the definition of a good life. What matters most is that he harbors no anger, no rancor, no heavy baggage of hatred. Friends or foe, "weather-weather lang 'yon". He must have discovered the real meaning of living. And we salute Erap for that.
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