Joseph Estrada

Joseph Estrada spent three decades as a lead actor in Philippine cinema before entering politics in 1969 as mayor of San Juan, a post he held until the 1986 People Power Revolution swept him out. He backed a coup attempt against the new government but won a Senate seat in 1987 anyway, then the vice presidency in 1992. In 1998 he took the presidency by a wide margin and declared all-out war on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2000, capturing its headquarters. Corruption allegations triggered an impeachment trial; when the Senate voted narrowly to block key evidence in January 2001, the prosecution walked out and massive protests forced him from office after less than three years. Arrested in April, he was convicted in 2007 of plundering $80 million and sentenced to life imprisonment, then pardoned weeks later by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the vice president who had taken his place. He ran for president again in 2010 and lost, then served two terms as mayor of Manila from 2013 to 2019 - the first former Philippine president to hold a lower office after leaving the top.