The Philippine Commission on Elections on Wednesday allowed former Philippine President Joseph Estrada to run in this year's presidential elections.
"The better policy approach is to let the people decide who will be the next president," the poll body's Second Division said in a decision junking the petition filed against Estrada last December.
"The two petitions for disqualification separately filed by Evilio Pormento and Mary Lou Estrada against former President Joseph Estrada are both denied for utter lack of merit," the Comelec said.
Estrada, who was present during the reading of the promulgation, hailed the ruling, saying, "I want to thank the Comelec commissioners for their sense of fairness."
In 1998, Estrada was elected as Philippine president with over 10 million votes. After less than three years in power, he was toppled by the street uprising amid corruption allegations.