Estrada's challenges

The maturity of the Philippine's democracy has been proven again with Congress announcing that 61-year-old Joseph Ejercito Estrada, a civilian and former film star, has become the country's 13th president, replacing Fidel Ramos as of the end of this month.

Mature in the sense that both the authorities and the people abide by the 1987 Constitution, which limits a person to a single six-year presidency term. Mature in that the May 11 election, which was participated in by 10 political parties, proceeded peacefully and fairly, where every voter was also encouraged to become a poll watcher and that anyone, regardless of his or her background, can become the country's leader when he or she is committed to, and entrusted by the people.

Estrada, who is vice president in the Ramos government, has been popular with the Philippines' 72 million people despite the fact that he was often referred to, by his political opponents, as a college dropout, a womanizer and a poor decisionmaker.

The majority of Filipinos, however, did not stop themselves from electing Erap, by which Estrada is affectionately known, as their leader. After all, to err is human and Filipinos realize what they need now is a leader and not a politician to rule the country. A leader who will fight for and protect the interests of all layers of the Philippine society, rather than a politician who jockeys for power with empty promises and bungling development programs.

Against this backdrop, Estrada was chosen by the people over the other nine presidential contenders.

Pledging to increase spending on agriculture to achieve food security and to abolish disparaging practices of distribution of wealth and opportunities for the people, Estrada has mapped out several priorities on his agenda, including the creation of livelihood and jobs, mass housing and transportation, environment protection and antigraft and corruption measures.

He has also promised to improve peace and order within the first six months of his presidency by personally running the Ministry of Interior. Estrada has strong reasons for running the ministry, considering that kidnapping wealthy businessmen and their children has become a chronic crime problem. In addition to these tales of wrongdoing, another most-reported scandal by the Philippine media was the corruption in infrastructure projects, which involved payoffs to many officials in the Ramos administration.

Estrada and his new government, many believe, will have to strive for the country's development now that a number of countries in the region have been hit by economic ills. Manila will see an unavoidable decline in foreign exchange earnings from Filipinos working abroad as thousands of them have been forced to return home following the bankruptcy of many companies in the region.

Another problem confronting Estrada's government is the issue of child laborers, although the national law prohibits children under the age of 14 from working. Recent studies show that there are about five million child laborers in the Philippines, with one million working full time in hazardous conditions.

Considering his sincerity and past commitments, it is expected that President, and champion of the poor, Estrada will keep his promise that all Philippine nationals, irrespective of their origins and religions, including the Moro people, enjoy whatever development fruits the country makes. As Estrada himself has said in an interview with the Asiaweek news magazine: "The mass number of our people should share in the country's wealth, unlike now when only the Makati Business Club people are making money."