Erap downplays JV-Jinggoy squabble

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Joseph Estrada said yesterday that the rift between his two sons, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and San Juan Rep. Joseph Victor Ejercito, is “very petty.”

In a telephone interview with The STAR, Estrada said he believes that he could easily fix the differences between Jinggoy and JV, which started after the congressman told a press conference in Bacolod recently that their sibling rivalry could reach the Senate.

The lawmaker is running for senator in next year’s elections under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

“It’s a family matter. It is very petty. I can easily fix it,” Estrada said.

He added that some members of the media had “just blown up the interview with JV.”

“Sinalsal namang masyado ang istorya. (They stretched the story too much.),” he said.

“There are some people who are fanning the differences between Jinggoy and JV,” Estrada added.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, one of the members of the executive committee of UNA, agreed with Estrada that the issue between Jinggoy and JV “is a family matter.”

“That is too personal. At the end of the day, whenever there are differences between two siblings, the matter of being brothers prevailed,” Binay said.

JV to Jinggoy: So sorry

Ejercito sounded apologetic yesterday to his half-brother Jinggoy, who complained about his reference to their “sibling rivalry” in a recent interview.

“If my answers in that interview hurt him, that was not my intention,” Ejercito said.

He said it was not also his intention to “gain political capital at his expense by making our disagreement public.”

Jinggoy has complained that Ejercito’s interview had “upset” and “deeply hurt” him.

“I have never been a party to what others regard as a sibling rivalry nor considered our relationship as such. I believe that the nature of our tepid relationship is perhaps understandable considering our family’s circumstances,” the senator said.

The San Juan lawmaker was asked during a recent press conference in Bacolod about his relationship with his half brother Jinggoy.         

“In that Bacolod interview, I did say, we’re not ‘buddy-buddy’ or text mates, but we’re civil (to each other). But I was just responding to the insinuation made by a reporter that my brother and I will always take the same side of any question, presumably to the detriment of the nation,” he said.

Ejercito said he is always conscious of his and his senator-brother’s “family’s circumstances.”– With Jess Diaz, Danny Dangcalan, Christina Mendez