Former President Joseph Estrada’s performance at the second ANC Leadership Forum should be enough to convince all Filipinos that he is not fit to run for president and more importantly to run this country. My apologies to Mr. Estrada’s die-hard supporters and hangers-on but Mr. Estrada is just not president material, not by any measure.
This is not about Mr. Estrada’s carabao English and his failure to communicate effectively in that language (MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando also failed in that regard). This is about basic comprehension, which is important whether one is involved in menial work or is running a country.
I suppose we can all agree that all politicians have the habit of avoiding questions that can potentially put them on the spot. All the other forum participants — Senator Loren Legarda, MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay — displayed this ability on several instances during the forum. But, unlike Estrada, these three participants were clearly deliberate about it. Estrada was not. To me, he appeared like he just didn’t understand some of the questions posed to him.
It’s either that or Mr. Estrada’s mind was simply too busy wandering off to some happy place. He was quite happy, wasn’t he? Perhaps, he was even too happy for his own good. Did Mr. Estrada even realize that the audience was not laughing with him but at him?
I hope the Opposition would be kind enough not to put Estrada through the rigors of another presidential campaign. Estrada deserves to enjoy his twilight years in peace. The opposition should consider this for Estrada’s sake if not the country’s.
I think Joseph Estrada will not run for President. The best thing he can do is convince the opposition to choose only one leader that will be their Presidential candidate.
My brother can’t accept that Joseph became a president – based on what he was saying. I think I agree.
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lpgd Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
thanks for visiting.
that’s also my suspicion that Estrada will not run and that all his posturing is all for show. However, we can never really be sure, can we? His allies may still egg him on.
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Yeah. We can never really be sure. I guess we just have to wait and to brace ourselves for what will happen. I hope that they will have one candidate – someone who will really serve the country well.
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