Political Crisis in the Leadership of Former Philippine President Joseph Ejercito Estrada - Case Study Example

POLITICAL CRISIS IN THE LEADERSHIP OF FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA 1.0. Introduction Republic of the Philippine’s former President Joseph Estrada faced a leadership crisis during his political term which caused his ouster from the Presidency. A series of political disturbances shrouded his two years in Office culminating in a people power reminiscent of the 1986 people power revolt against the country’s dictator, Ferdinand Marcos. This essay will examine the factors that contributed to the political crisis faced by Joseph Estrada pertaining to his leadership to effectively govern the Philippines. It starts with a discussion on his profile in terms of his occupational and political background prior to his election as the republic’s 13th President. Discussion of salient factors that exacerbated the leadership crisis he faced while in Office. 1.1. Occupational background Joseph Ejercito dropped out of college to pursue an acting career using the screen name Erap Estrada. He became a successful actor and is considered as one of the pillars and respected figures in Philippine cinema. He starred in more than 100 movies with the trademark role of strong man going against villainous characters to defend the poor. This movie portrayal endeared him to the masses, mostly poor and uneducated. Eventually, he moved into the role of movie producer producing more than 75 movies. (Biography, n.d) 1.2. Political background His trademark role in movies as defender of the poor who lives amongst them became useful in his bid for political office. He ran and won as mayor of the City of San Juan in Metro Manila in 1968 holding the position until 1986 (Biography, n.d). The period he governed as mayor of the city is within the governance of the former Dictator, President Ferdinand Marcos. Estrada is known as one of the loyalist of the deposed dictator which cost his discharge from his mayoralty position (IMDB, nd.). He mobilized his own political party after his removal from his position as mayor, ran and won as Senator in 1987 (IMDB, n.d.). In 1992, he ran as Vice-President under a different political party teaming up with one of Marcos loyalist, Eduardo Cojuangco, who ran for President (Biography, n.d). However, the latter lost the election but Estrada won and served under a President from a different political party, General Fidel V. Ramos, a cousin of and instrumental in the ouster of the late dictator Marcos. As Vice-President, Estrada led the National Anti-Graft and Corruption Committee which further enhance his image as corrupt buster. On May 1998, Estrada won his bid to become the 13th President of the Republic of the Philippines capturing 40% of total votes. He made record as the President who won with a largest margin in Philippine history. (Biography, n.d). However, his Vice-Presidential candidate did not win. Instead the more popular Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from the political ticket of former President Ramos won. 2.0. Factors Contributing to Estrada’s Political Leadership Crisis The political career of Estrada flourished independent of any known political parties. Instead, he capitalized on his popularity as an actor to win over the votes of the masses which is his simple political machinery. However, his political leadership faced several crises that lumped together it exploded into a national crisis that made people act to oust him from his Presidency of two and half years. 2.1. Social Estrada’s presidency faced several challenges or oppositions from various social sectors such as the religious community, the elite, and rebel groups, other non-government sectors, and people he associated with. 2.1.1. Religious sector The influential Roman Catholic Church never supported the candidacy of Estrada for President since he is known to live a life against the teachings of the Church namely, having children outside of his marriage and blatantly exposing relationship with other women outside of his marriage. Also, his involvement with gambling is another factor why the Church veers away from his association. 2.1.2. Elite Population With no higher educational qualifications, Estrada faced the scrutiny of the Philippine educated elite. His bad English, although intentionally done (IMDB, n.d.), became the source of jokes on his Presidency and never looks good in the eyes of the educated elite who are mostly educated with higher degrees from known Universities within and outside the country. His educational credentials as well as accomplishments are comparably low with that of his predecessors. Former President Ramos is an engineer and was a high ranking member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Former President Cory Aquino, though a plain housewife prior to his presidency, was instrumental figure in the democracy of the country to whom international community look up to. Even the deposed dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, was hailed as a brilliant lawyer and war hero. Thus, it is hard to be a compelling leader in the eyes of the elite when compared to the credentials of his predecessors. 2.1.3. Rebel groups His obvious indifference to continue peace talks with rebel groups’ particularly Muslim rebels in Mindanao drew criticisms from peace advocates. Peace talks with Muslim rebels are crucial in maintaining peace and order in the region. The way he dealt with the communist rebel group, National People’s Army also draw dissatisfaction. (Ferrer, 1999). This manner of dealing with the rebel groups ran in contrast to the serious manner of peace engagements implemented by Former President Ramos who has the field experience combating with rebel groups; hence saw the necessity of extending peace talks with them to further the development of the country. 2.1.4. Other non-government sector The role of civil society in implementing pro-poor programmes weakened under his administration (Ferrer, 1999). These organizations were usually tapped by former Presidents to closely work with the government to implement its poverty alleviation programmes. Also, the absence of focus on agrarian reform and ancestral domain in his pro-poor programmes as well as lowering the budget for these sectors further contradicts his intention in helping the sectors of agriculture and indigenous people. 2.1.5. Friends or associations Estrada’s associations with people of doubtful characters further marred his leadership image particularly his integrity in maintaining a corrupt free government. Among his close associations is with businessman Mark Jimenez who was extradited from the United States of America. He was also tagged to have associated with “shady Chinese cronies” (Burton, S., 2001, par. 14). He used the help of his friends to coerced media outlets critical of his administration such as in the case of newspaper outlets Manila Times and Inquirer. The former was taken over by one of his friends after it printed a series of criticism of his leadership Estrada campaign for withdrawal of advertisements to the latter among his friends and government institutions. (Ferrer, M.C., 1999). These actuations run in contrast to the image of former President Ramos who is known to have a good relationship with the press and take in stride the criticisms thrown at him. Further, the reported involvement of one of his relatives to a text book scam amounting to approximately P3M was not contributing to his leadership image. 2.2. Economic 2.2.1. Wasted economic legacy The economic gains i.e. growth of production and lower inflation rate reflected during the first three months of Estrada’s presidency if analyzed in depth did not come from the fruits of his sound economic policies but from that of his predecessor Former President Ramos (Asian Political News, 1999). This is an analysis corroborated by the report of Asian Development Bank on the reasons why the Philippines was not greatly affected by the 1997 financial crisis. A Washington based think tank policy analyst further corroborated this report which led him to summarise that “Estrada squandered what was left of him’ (Dillon, 2001, Chepesiuk, R., 2001, par. 5). Marcus Nolad (cited in Chepesiuk, 2001), a senior fellow in the Institute for International Economics in Washington, indicated that Estrada did not have the “strength of leadership” (par. 9) to push economic reforms. However, such favourable economic legacy of the administration of President Ramos was wasted with the economic disaster that happened during Estrada’s administration. The Manila Stock Exchange dropped to its lowest of 6% points. The peso depreciated to its historical level of P55 to the dollar (Burton, 2001). Allegations of manipulation of the stock exchange with the alleged involvement of one of his closest friends were reported earning them huge profit at the expense of its investors and ultimately the lost of confidence of overall investors to the Philippine’s dealing system and the consequent resignation of the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission who accused the President of intervening to clear his friend’s involvement in the case (Duval, J., 2001). This was an actuation that clearly created a negative impact towards the country’s investors. 2.2.2. Inequitable economic policies and actuations biased to allies His businessmen friends have taken advantage of the economy by getting favourable business deals compared to their competitors. A friend of his was prioritized in getting a franchise of an online bingo business in the country. Lucio Tan, a prominent friend of his, who is also a Marcos loyalist also received favour from the Estrada government particularly in the suspension of labour agreement with employees of Philippine Airlines, the flagship airline of the country in guise of keeping the airlines in business amid losses. Further, unfair competition among foreign competitors of the airline resulted to higher cost of plane fares with the limits imposed on flights of foreign airlines. Other Presidential protection given to other industries such as petrochemical trading, port services and telecommunication industry were seen as favourable on the outset but actually only directly benefited the businessman allies of Estrada. (Ferrer, 1999). These economic favours resulted to unfairly alienating business competitors and labour welfare particularly when Estrada tried to put a ban on employees’ strikes or demonstration of protest. Such actions were clear contrasts to the clear economic decisions of the administration of Former President Ramos to privatize, deregulate and liberalize government corporations to boost its fiscal position. These efforts were implemented without any dent in the reputation of the former president. 2.2.3. Growing dissatisfaction from the business sector Evidenced of the growing concern of the business community to Estrada’s economic policies and favouritism is the result of the survey of top executives in the leading business district in the country wherein they manifest their concern on these economic practices of the Estrada government. While the business community is apprehensive, the fiscal status of his government was not good. Poor revenue collection was exacerbated by unresolved cases of tax evasion with one of his close friends leading these cases. Further, the use of people’s funds from two quasi-financial social systems to purchase majority of shares of a well known bank in the country did not sit well among the Filipinos. (Ferrer, 1999). In the end, the International Monetary Fund showed dissatisfaction over his administration’s lack of fiscal management particularly in curtailing government expenditures (Duval, 2001). 2.2.4. Dissatisfaction of labour groups Unemployment rate jump to double digit number over a three month period in year 2000 (Duval, 2001) with the labour sector accusing Estrada of being “anti-worker, anti-poor and anti-people” (Labornet, 1998) as a result of his controversial anti-strike stand against workers of Philippine airlines and the eventual retrenchment of its 5,000 employees. 2.3. Political 2.3.1. Corruption In the political front, corruption scandal rocked the leadership of Estrada which created a ripple effect on the country’s economic crisis particularly to the Stock Exchange and the Philippine currency. In year 2000, a close ally of Estrada accused him of amassing billions of pesos from various corrupt activities such as pocketing bribes for illegal gambling (IMDB, n.d.). This starts his tumultuous impeachment trial on extensive corruption. Professor Alfred McCoy of University of Wisconsin assessed that Estrada is the “worst president the Philippines ever had” (Chepsiuk, 2001, par. 12). This assessment is considered devastating to the political leadership of Estrada. 2.3.2. Cronyism and tyranny However, growing dissatisfaction to Estrada’s political leadership started early on his presidency with his consent to bury the remains of the Philippine’s former dictator’s remains at the Heroes Cemetery (Ferrer, 1999). This is a political act that did not sit well with the Filipinos given that the memories of abuse during the dictator’s reign are still fresh in their minds. Such act showed the political allegiance of Estrada towards Marcos and his family which creates an impression that he will eventually follow in the dictator’s footsteps throwing away the sacrifices made by many Filipinos to free the country from tyranny. His two predecessors, Cory Aquino and Fidel Ramos, have made it clear that the country’s dictator can never be buried in the county’s Heroes Cemetery given the many human rights abuses that happened during his term. Further exacerbating Estrada’s image following Marcos ways are his blatant statements on arrest without warrants, implementing a national identification system and banning labour strikes which were opposed by human rights groups (Ferrer, 1999). 2.3.3. Dubious political appointees Estrada’s political appointees to serve his government were also doubted in terms of their capability to handle their positions since what was perceived was that they were appointed based on political debts and not on their capabilities. Also, he also revived the access to government of some cronies of Marcos who were previously touted as traitors of the country. 2.3.4. Waning support of the Armed Forces The withdrawal of support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was a blatant show of a crisis in Estrada’s political leadership. The divided stance of the military over Estrada’s leadership was seen as a risk to national security since they will lose focus on fighting insurgents both form the Muslim and the communist rebel groups (Duval, 2001). Then AFP Chief of Staff General Angelo Reyes admitted such risks as well as the threat of a military opportunist take over on political governance brought about by divisiveness among the ranks of AFP (2001). When this happens the country’s democracy will be in jeopardy and the risk of civil war is imminent which only implies that Estrada itself is the source of such risk. 2.4. Foreign Relations Estrada’s foreign relations also came into bad light starting with the outrage shown by the Malaysian government over his decision to publicly support Malaysia’s Former Deputy Prime Minister Ibrahim Anwar (Ferrer, 1999) who was being tried for corruption and sodomy (Human Rights Watch, 1998). His decision to allow the government of Libya to facilitate the resolution of a Mindanao hostage crisis insulted the government of the United States of America, known as a close ally in the history of the Philippines. It further added salt to injury with the favours provided by Estrada’s government to mainland China’s businesses when the world knows that USA has close ties with Taiwan, a country being claimed by mainland China. (Duval, 2001). In the end, USA openly supported Estrada’s successor to the presidency when he was ousted. 3.0. Consequences to Estrada’s Political Leadership All of these factors created an aggregate dissatisfaction on the leadership of Estrada to manage the social, political, economic and international relations of the Philippines. The various sectors that are inherent in furthering the country’s development have risen against his leadership. The meddling of his friends in the country’s economic and political activities created an image of indecisiveness and a leader who is not in control of his own administration. Further, revelations of his alleged corrupt activities as well as that of his political circles destroyed his image of protector and saviour of the poor. Thus, when he was accused of massive corruption and cover up of such act, law makers filed an impeachment case against him in the Senate. Eventually, he was not impeached but ousted by a massive revolt within just two years from his four year presidential term. The Supreme Court Justice even facilitated the oath taking of his successor showing his waning leadership in the eyes of the judiciary. He was later imprisoned for six years and eventually convicted in September 2007 to life imprisonment for bribery and corruption (IMDB). It is a tragic ending for a President who earned massive votes from the people and idolized to take the poor out of poverty. 4.0. Conclusion Effective political leadership are shaped by clear and decisive implementations of economic and political policies which are developed out of clear considerations for its impact towards various aspects of society. The political image of honest and clean governance as well as respect for political legacy are clearly seen in quantifiable measures creates trust not just from the constituents, investors and politicians. The absences of these factors that can be clearly seen in the social, economic, political and foreign relations of a country risk a political crisis to a political leader’s tenure. This is what exactly happened in the leadership of Joseph Estrada based on the analysis of factors presented in the essay that affects his way of managing the affairs of the government of the Philippines. In the end, the rule of the people prevails and he got ousted from the presidency. References Joseph Estrada Biography (n.d.), Biography [Internet], Accessed at http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=39942 [ 2 November 2008] Biography for Joseph Estrada (n.d), IMDB [Internet], Accessed at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0261825/bio [ 2 November 2008] Ferrer, M.C., 1999. A Reading of the Estrada Administration – One Year After. Third World Studies Center. Presented during the European Solidarity Conference on the Philippines. Accessed at http://www.philsol.nl/solcon/Miriam-Coronel-99.htm [02 November 2008] Burton, S., 2001. People Power Redux: The Philippine people took to the streets and ousted President Estrada – but who really made the key decisions that sealed his fate?. Time Asia Magazine [Internet]. (Updated 29 January 2001), Vol 157:4. Accessed at http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/2001/0129/cover1.html [ 3 November 2008] Asian Political News, 1999. Estrada’s first year in office meets mixed reactions [Online] (Updated on 5 July 1999) Accessed at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDQ/is_1999_July_5/ai_55115700 [3 November 2008] Duval, J., 2001. Mass Revolt Forces President Estrada to resign. Marxist [Online] (Updated 23 January 2001) Accessed at www.marxist.com/Asia/peoples_power_2.html [3 November 2008] Labornet, 1998. Strike ban exemplifies Erap’s true colors [Internet] (Updated 12 October 1998) Accessed http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54a/120.html [02 November 2008] Chepesiuk, R. (2001). After Estrada: The Philippines in Transition-Will Investor Confidence Recover with the Economy? AsianWeek [Online] (Updated 23 February 2001) Accessed at http://asianweek.com/2001_02_23/biz2_philippines.html [03 November 2008] Reyes, A (2001). I did not plot against Estrada. Philippine Daily Inquirer posted in AFRIM Website [Internet] Accessed at http://www.afrim.org.ph/Archives/2001/Philippine%20Daily%20Inquirer/March/21/I%20did%20not%20plot%20against%20Estrada%20%20says%20former%20AFP%20chief%20Reyes.txt [3 November 2008] Human Rights Watch (1998). Chronology of the Case Against Anwar Ibrahim [Internet]. (Updated on 11 November 1998) Accessed at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/malaysia98/anwar-chronology.htm [5 November 2008] Read More