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Newly re-elected Philippine Senator and actor Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada was mobbed by fellow Filipinos when he appeared at Lucky Plaza on June 5 at around 4pm.

Lucky onlookers at Lucky Plaza

Jinggoy appears to have been on a personal visit to Singapore with his family, and was visiting the Orchard Road mall with his daughter.

Lucky Plaza is popular with the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) community of Singapore, and with loosening of Covid-19 restrictions, many OFWs have returned to the mall in order to shop or meet with friends.

The senator appears to have been spotted as he entered the mall, and was surrounded by a dense crowd of onlookers trying to get selfies or Tiktok content with the senator-elect.

As he made his way upstairs, crowds formed around the mall’s atrium, either hoping to catch a glimpse of the senator or find out what the commotion was about.

Jinggoy live-streamed the visit, and his daughter also posted some videos to Facebook showing the excited reaction of the crowd.

The crowd could be heard screaming in excitement throughout his visit.

His visit was also captured by several TikTokers in the area.

@ilokana1993 jinggoy Estrada is in lucky plaza Singapore 🤗🥰😇#hfsi🇸🇬🔥 ♬ Aking Pagmamahal - Chloe Anjeleigh

@mizann1905 senator jinggoy Estrada today at lucky plaza #fypage #fypシ ♬ Gülmek Sadaka - Maher Zain & Sinan Akçıl

Walking in his father’s footsteps

Jinggoy is the son of former Philippine President Joseph Estrada.

Joseph Estrada served as president from 1998 until 2001, when he was ousted in the second “People Power” revolution due to allegations of corruption and replaced by the vice-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Jinggoy has followed in his father’s footsteps as an actor. According to IMDB, he has appeared in 27 movies, mainly in the action genre.

He has also been involved in politics from a young age.

At the age of 25, he was elected vice-mayor of the central Manila district of San Juan from 1988 to 1992, and then mayor from 1992 to 2001. His father had also been mayor of San Juan, as well as his half brother and fellow senator Joseph Victor Ejercito. He was then elected to the senate in 2004, where he served for two terms until 2016.

However, like his father, Jinggoy’s political career is not without scandal.

As reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, he was arrested in 2014 on plunder and graft charges, and was jailed until 2017 when he was granted bail. The case against him is still ongoing as of 2022, and he maintains his innocence.

Political dynasties

Despite this ongoing case, he was re-elected to the Philippines’ senate in 2022 after an unsuccessful run in 2019.

In what is a telling reminder of the power of political dynasties in the Philippines, Jinggoy ran for the senate as part of a slate of candidates promoted by Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte. At a campaign event covered by Philippine news outlet Rappler, Marcos Jr said that Jinggoy was innocent of the charges against him, implying that he had been politically targeted by the administration of then President Benigno Aquino.

Marcos Jr, son of former Philippine President and political strongman Ferdinand Marcos, is now the president-elect, having won the presidency in a landslide.

Sara Duterte, who is the daughter of current president Rodrigo Duterte, will be the vice-president of the country under Marcos Jr when their terms start on June 30.

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Top image via Jinggoy Estrada/Facebook