Estrada disowns love child

Estrada disowns love child

MANILA (AFP): Philippines President Joseph Estrada denied on Thursday having fathered a daughter by a former beauty queen, Miss Manila Rose Dungca, his spokesman said.

The Philippines Inquirer newspaper on Thursday carried three pictures of Josephine Rose Ejercito, 18, who it said was crowned "Miss Caloocan" by a northern Manila suburb on Tuesday night.

"She has the eyes of the Ejercitos," the Inquirer said of the tall young woman, referring to the president's clan.

Dungca told the paper her beauty queen daughter wore a gown paid for by the president.

The proud mother told the daily she met the girl's father when she herself was crowned Miss Manila in 1980. "He was a famous actor so I agreed to become his girlfriend," she added.

The affair was over a year later, the mother said.