By Bernice Camille V. Bauzon, Reporter

Mayor Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito of San Juan City has petitioned the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to accredit his local political party, Partido Magdiwang, in which he is listed as the chairman. The four-page petition was filed on April 28—but disclosed to reporters Sunday. In it, Guia Gomez, the party’s president, and Rodolfo Irasga Jr., secretary general, argued that they have a legal right to be accredited as a registered political party.

“Petitioner is not in any manner disqualified by law from registering as a local political party as it is not a religious sect or denomination, organization or association organized for religious purposes,” according to the petition.

Ejercito is the son of former President Joseph Estrada and Gomez, a former actress who is reportedly planning to run for mayor of San Juan in 2010. Ejercito is serving out his third-consecutive term, and is banned by the Constitution to seek a fourth. The mayor is reportedly eying the lone congressional district of San Juan.

San Juan is the bailiwick of Estrada, who is reportedly planning to join run for the president again in 2010.
The former president has his own party—the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP)—and is highly identified with the United Opposition.

Estrada’s other son—with his wife, former Sen. Loi Estrada—is a senator.

Founded on April 19, 2008, Partido Magdiwang is a San Juan-based political party with offices at
Powerhouse Building in Barangay Salapan, San Juan City (Metro Manila). The petition noted that the party, which has been in existence for a year, has chapters in majority of the villages or barangay in San Juan.

The petition added that the party was devoted to several principles, including “national sovereignty and territorial integrity, democracy, social justice and social reform and economic priorities and global preparedness.”