During his lengthy political career, Joseph Estrada has been called many things, many of them unkind. But when he was recently called 'the father of all infidels', the massively popular former action-film star known for his swaggering tough-guy roles was miffed.
What happens below the belt is his and his wife's concern, he rebuked. And his critics wondered: which wife? It is no secret that Mr Estrada, 60, the Philippines' vice-president and the country's strongest potential presidential candidate, has two wives, a trail of romances and a brood of children from several women, all of whom he supports.
In a front-page interview, he admitted: 'My love life is an open book.' He also insists it is not an election issue in this Catholic-dominated society.
One newspaper columnist, ruminating over whether Mr Estrada's lifestyle serves as a worthy role model, offered a story about an alleged confusion over the Mrs Estradas. Wanting to invite the vice-president's wife to a ribbon- cutting ceremony, an official's wife, explained the columnist, rang the number she was given for Mrs Estrada. But the voice was different. Eventually, the two women agreed to meet beforehand, and indeed it was not the expected woman. It was the second Mrs Estrada.
'How will our schoolchildren react if several women, each claiming to be the First Lady, visit their school one after the other?' the columnist asked.
Should he win the national elections in May, Mr Estrada would 'have one First Family and it definitely won't be my family', said second wife Guia Estrada. 'He's aware of that and is ready.' And so is she, she added, supportively describing the man she lived with for 16 years when he was Metro Manila mayor and separated from his first wife, Loi Ejercito, with whom he has reunited. 'He is ready for the presidency. No one can be better prepared,' she said.
