Jinggoy won’t give way

Three weeks ago when he met the movie press, Sen. JV Ejercito said that he was definitely running for reelection in next year’s polls.

Last week when JV’s brother, former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, met also with the movie press, he said that he was determined to run in the 2019 elections.

If only one of them should run, who did Jinggoy think should be “it?”

“Me, of course!” Jinggoy was certain. “I remember him (JV) issuing a press release that if I decided to run, he would make the sacrifice of giving way.”

Would their dad, former Pres./Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada act as referee in case of a “deadlock?”

“As far as I know,” added Jinggoy, “it’s okay with our dad if the two of us would run, walang problema sa kanya ‘yon, but it’s better if only one would.”   

With Jinggoy at that lunch was his daughter Janella Estrada, Vice Mayor of San Juan City, who herself is running not for re-election but for the position to be vacated by her Tita Guia Gomez who is on her third and last term as mayor of the city.

“I’m thankful that (Tita Guia) has endorsed me,” said Janella, a Political Science graduate who first served one term as councilor before she ran for vice mayor. Before Guia, other members of the Estrada Clan who served as the city’s mayor were Erap himself, Jinggoy (after serving as vice mayor) and JV (who finished three terms before running for Senator).

“I have learned a lot by observing them,” shared Janella who was “a bit nervous” because she was meeting the (usually nosey) movie press for the first time. “They give me (pieces of) advice.”

And what tips is Jinggoy giving Janella?

  …and with (from left) Jinggoy’s wife Precy Vitug-Estrada, Jinggoy’s sister Jackie and family patriarch former Pres./Manila Mayor Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada

“The same reminders that I got from my dad,” said Jinggoy. “To serve the people very well. And, like what I did, laging umikot sa mga barangay.”

There’s not much difference between showbiz and politics, according to Janella.

“In both fields,” she noted, “there are intrigues, and you just have to know who your real friends are, who are true to you. It’s easy to tell.”

Since he’s running in 2019, Jinggoy will have to refrain from doing movies, as per COMELEC guidelines. Resuming his acting career must take a backseat for the meantime.

Incidentally, Jinggoy has been regularly visiting his good friend, former Sen. Bong Revilla, at the Camp Crame Detention Center where he stayed for a few years. Asked what, aside from Bong, did he miss “life inside,” Jinggoy said, “Wala!” He admitted that all he and Bong did was eat, work out and pray, and to pass the long hours of boredom, he would watch sports on TV while Bong preferred soaps and old movies.

“I am relihiyoso,” added Jinggoy, “and I did pray a lot. Bong is religious, too, and he would attend both Christian and Catholic services.”

If and when Janella did become a mayor, Ethel Ramos asked her, “would she have a First Gentleman?”

Janella blushed, “Wala pa!”

Asked if he “meddled” in Janella’s love life (or that of his other children), Jinggoy gave a big “No!” as an answer.

“Matanda na siya,” he said, “at bahala na siya sa buhay niya!”

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