Cash-strapped former Philippine President Joseph “Erap” Estrada is hoping to sell his luxury house for nearly $7 million so that he can pursue real-estate interests, a senior aide said on Thursday.
The 73-year-old, detained for six years and convicted of plundering state coffers before winning a pardon in 2007, plans to move into a high-rise condominium with his wife, senior staff member Ferdie Ramos told Agence France-Presse.
“The reality is that he is jobless and he lost [in] the elections [on May 10 this year]. All his children have grown up and moved out and it’s just he and his wife at the big house,” Ramos said.
“The property is quite expensive to maintain, so they will just transfer to a condo that [Estrada] owns,” he added.
The property, situated in a leafy, gated enclave in San Juan City in Metro Manila is a 3,000 square-meter (0.74-acre) spread with four buildings, including a clubhouse where visitors are put up.
Ramos said that Estrada, who announced his retirement from politics after finishing second in the May 2010 polls, hopes to raise P300 million ($6.82 million) for the house.
The former president will use the money to pursue his real-estate business, he added.
Estrada has put up two high-rise residential condominium buildings and plans to build a third soon, Ramos said.
A former action movie star, the former leader parlayed his fame into political success and in 1998 won the presidency by a landslide.
He was ousted by a military-backed popular revolt 30 months into his six-year term over accusations of widespread corruption.
In 2007, after a six-year trial, the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan found him guilty of plundering $80 million during his stint as president, and sentenced him to life in jail.
State prosecutors said that the haul came from tobacco taxes intended for farmers as well as for kickbacks from the illegal numbers game jueteng, which is popular among the poor whom Estrada championed in public.
The woman who replaced him as president, Gloria Arroyo, quickly pardoned him.
To this day, Estrada denies the plunder charges.
He sought personal redemption in the May race to Malacañang and his strong showing, finishing only behind landslide winner Benigno Aquino 3rd, showed he remained hugely popular among the poor.
AFP
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