After giving a tour of his museum of souvenirs from a checkered career in politics and the movies, ousted Philippine president Joseph Estrada headed outside for a dramatic finale: the marble tomb where he plans to be laid to rest.
But death is hardly on Estrada's mind. At 70, he says he is in good health. Movies -- his original springboard to fame and power -- and politics are beckoning again.
"I might," Estrada replied when asked if he would consider running in 2010 despite a constitutional ban on former presidents seeking re-election.
PHOTO: AP
"For six-and-a-half years, I did not get sick. I'm stronger now. Maybe I still have a mission to do," Estrada said in an interview on Thursday at his 15 hectare vacation hideaway outside Manila, patterned after the Santa Barbara, California, ranch of another actor turned political leader, the late US president Ronald Reagan.
Estrada made a sentimental trip early this week to his villa where he spent the last two of more than six years of detention while on trial for plunder. He was convicted in September, then was pardoned and set free a month later by his nemesis, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
As he stepped back into the villa -- where he said he was driven to tears while feeling abandoned during his lowest point -- Estrada noted the door "looked so strange. There were no soldiers."
Clad in a blue summer shirt, jeans and hallmark wristband with the presidential seal, Estrada was in high spirits, often puffing away on a Lucky Strike through an anti-tar holder.
He drove around in a golf cart, showing off moss-colored lagoons teeming with ducks and flamingos and a poultry and vegetable farm that he tended while detained, raising ostriches and donating piglets to help nearby slum dwellers.
He pointed to one of the golden ponies roaming a ranch road, saying in jest that he would lend it to Arroyo if she were toppled and held under guard like he used to be.
Many were ready to write off Estrada after his 2001 ouster amid an army-backed "people power" revolt that Arroyo helped lead, but the former action film star is back with a vengeance.
Estrada has joined protests calling for Arroyo's resignation over a string of corruption allegations against her and her husband, which they have both denied.
Estrada said he has considered running for president again because the fragmented opposition might fail to field a single candidate and lose in 2010. Two months ago, he commissioned a legal study, which he claimed shows he could run again because he failed to finish his first term. Government lawyers argue he cannot.
While no one knows how history will judge him, Estrada wants the public to share his version of events, prompting him to build a museum chronicling his upscale family roots, movie days and entry into the chaotic political scene.
A dimly lit section of the museum deals with his ouster, which he claims was set off by a conspiracy of Roman Catholic Church leaders, Arroyo and wealthy businessmen, who disdained his pro-poor leaning and looked down on his academic credentials as an engineering college dropout.
Walking past a huge copy of the police mug shot taken after his 2001 arrest, Estrada said he was dazed from humiliation.
"They took that mug shot and there was this number displayed across my chest. I thought it was the end of the world," he said.
A short film about his life, pro-poor dreams and downfall ended the tour.
He turned and headed out a side door, mumbling, "This is the finale," as he walked with a slight limp toward his would-be tomb, set resplendently to face the rising sun atop a hill.
Philippine presidents are traditionally buried at Manila's heroes' cemetery, but for someone who has thrived in the swirl of the social and political milieu, Estrada said he wants to be left alone in death.
"I prefer that even in my tomb, there will be more solemnity and, hopefully, there will be peace and quiet," he said.
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