Hitting two birds with one stone.
Former senator and plunder-accused Jinggoy Estrada found a way to congratulate his friend, Senator Nancy Binay for likely bagging the last of 12 Senate seats while taunting his half-brother and outgoing Senator JV Ejercito, who trailed behind Binay in the midterm elections.
Jinggoy posted a lengthy Facebook post last night congratulating incoming neophyte senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go, as well as former colleagues in the Senate who are likely to win, such as Grace Poe, Sonny Angara, Koko Pimentel, Cynthia Villar, Pia Cayetano, Lito Lapid, and Binay.
He went the extra mile in congratulating Binay, who is poised to win the last available Senate seat at 12th place with 14,409,333 votes based on the latest partial, unofficial results from the Commission on Elections. His estranged brother Ejercito is at 13th place with 14,183,061 votes.
“For Sen. Nancy, I know you will do a lot in the Senate that will help our poor countrymen. Keep it up!” he said in Filipino.
Jinggoy continued and seemed to throw shade at his younger half-brother: “You deserve to keep the 12th spot because you have a very big heart for the poor and you are the BETTER person among others. Congratulations my friend.”
Jinggoy is at 15th place in the senatorial race with 11,268,201 votes.
Ejercito saw Jinggoy’s post and reacted on Twitter: “And I am really the Good One…”
And I am really the Good One… https://t.co/FKe5T5bnm8
— JV Ejercito (@jvejercito) May 16, 2019
This is a reference to Ejercito’s campaign jingle that goes, “JV is the good one.”
Earlier this month, Jinggoy commented on the campaign jingle and told ABS-CBN News in jest: “So, that makes me the bad one?”
Jinggoy was detained for three years over plunder and graft charges linked to the pork barrel scam. He has been out on bail since September 2017.
The two are part of the same administration-backed political party Hugpong ng Pagbabago. Last week, Jinggoy even raised Ejercito’s hand during a campaign rally and said that while his brother is the “good one,” he is the “better one.”
Looks like they aren’t in good terms again, even after Jinggoy’s endorsement of Ejercito in February and reports that the two had made up.
Both are sons of outgoing Manila Mayor and former president Joseph “Erap” Ejercito Estrada.
Jinggoy’s mother is former senator and former President Estrada’s legal wife Luisa Ejercito Estrada, while Ejercito’s mother is actress and outgoing San Juan City Mayor Guia Gomez. Erap also has other children from several extramarital relationships.
The feud between the two sons has been going on for years and worsened due to politics in San Juan City, where they have both been mayors.
In 2014, Ejercito signed a committee report which recommended the filing of charges against senators involved in the pork barrel scam, including Jinggoy.
It escalated in October when their father supported Jinggoy’s decision to run again for Senate even after JV expressed intentions to seek re-election himself. Ejercito said his father shouldn’t have let Jinggoy run and that votes will be divided.
The Ejercito-Estrada clan lost big in the Monday elections. Apart from Jinggoy and Ejercito, who both failed to win Senate seats, former President Estrada lost in the Manila mayoralty race against his former Vice Mayor Isko Moreno.
The family’s 50-year dynasty also ended in San Juan City when mayoral candidate Francis Zamora won against Jinggoy’s daughter Janella Ejercito Estrada. Zamora received 35,060 votes while Janella received 24,813 votes.
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