Former President Joseph Estrada is barred by the Constitution from taking another crack at the presidency, Malacañang asserted Thursday, but said the government will neither file a case in court nor take back the executive clemency granted him to block Estrada’s candidacy.

A day after the former leader declared his plans to run in next year’s elections, Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said they welcome the entry of Estrada into the presidential race but said it was up to the court to rule on his eligibility to run.

“We welcome the entry of former President Estrada in the political battle. We cannot ignore that he has a large following and his team up with Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay is a formidable team,” the former justice secretary said.

“But we have legal reservations on the eligibility of former President Estrada because a provision in the Constitution is clear that a president cannot seek reelection,” Bello told reporters in the Palace.

Bello said they expect several groups to raise the issue before the court once Estrada files his certificate of candidacy.

“We leave that to the court. In the final analysis, we will leave the decision to the people,” he added.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Raul Gonzalez also said a president can only occupy the highest position once and could no longer run for the same post again.

"As far as I am concerned, it is provided in the Constitution that he cannot run for any reelection. The operative word there is 'any,' " Gonzalez said in a phone interview with the Manila Bulletin.

Gonzalez, a former justice secretary, also said he believes the President is unlikely to take back the clemency for Estrada although it appeared he may have violated a condition in the executive clemency granted by President Arroyo.

Estrada supposedly agreed to retire from politics when he was offered the pardon by Mrs. Arroyo in 2007.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Anthony Golez also said the President does not regret giving pardon to Estrada, who was convicted of plunder, saying it was done “out of reconciliation and good will.”

Golez said the President was sincere when she allowed Estrada, her foremost political enemy, to walk as a free man.

Gonzalez, meantime, said it is premature to file a case against Estrada since he has not yet filed his certificate of candidacy before the Commission on Elections.

Even if he is allowed to run, Gonzalez also said he thinks Estrada could no longer win despite his popularity among the masses.

" Sa dami naman ng kandidato bakit naman ang convicted ang iboboto ng tao?" he said.

Former Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye for his part said the legal questions hounding Estrada’s political plans are best left to the wisdom and sound judgment of the Supreme Court and the sovereign people.

Bunye, who as acting Executive Secretary signed Estrada’s pardon in 2007, said the conditional pardon contained a clause that Estrada has publicly committed to no longer seek any elective position or office.

Bunye, now a member of the Monetary Board, said Estrada affixed his signature on the conditional pardon, thereby accepting such clause.

Estrada however maintained it is only the sovereign people who has the absolute power and right to choose their leaders in a clean and honest elections, not Malacañang nor the courts, so-called civil society elements and some highly-partisan Catholic church leaders.

“In deciding to be a candidate in next year’s presidential race, I stand by the time-honored democratic principle of Vox Populi, Vox Dei which, when translated from its Latin letter fosters the democratic canon upholding the voice of the people being the voice of God,” Estrada said.

He added that the “Vox Populi” doctrine champions the constitutional dogma that the “right to choose a nation’s leader solely rests on the sovereignty of the people.”

Estrada made the statement in response to the Malacañang hint to let the Supreme Court decide on the issue of his intention to run for president again.

Malacañang pointed to an alleged condition in the presidential pardon it granted Estrada two years ago, fully restoring to him his “civil and political rights” after almost seven years as a political prisoner based on what Estrada had maintained as “trumped-up charges of the Arroyo government”.

Estrada was elected President in 1998 with 10.8 million popular votes, the largest in the country’s electoral history, but was ousted in January 2001 by a military-backed popular revolt.

The late Supreme Court Justice Cecilia-Munoz Palma, advocating the citizens’ right to elect their leaders, said such absolute right is mandated by the Constitution bestowing to the people their right to elect their officials “through the ballot.”

“Let not the voice of the people be stilled,” said Munoz-Palma who also served as president of the 1987 Constitutional Convention.

At the same time, Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, in a decision, ruled that “the better policy approach is to let the sovereign people decide who will be the next President. For on political questions, this Court may err but the sovereign people will not. To be sure, the Constitution did not grant to the unelected members of this Court to elect in behalf of the people.”

Estrada also said he is not bothered by the possible legal obstacles he might face in the near future, including the filing of criminal charges in connection with the Dacer-Corbito double murder case.

“Wala yan (that’s nothing),” Estrada said during an interview after the formal launching of the Erap-Binay tandem in Moriones, Tondo last Wednesday evening.

Estrada, now 72, expressed doubts over the timing of the planned criminal charges against him in connection with the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000, saying the move is primarily “politically motivated.”

The leader of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) also refuted speculations that he will eventually be disqualified as a presidential candidate.

Catholic leaders, meanwhile, said Estrada’s position on the illegal numbers’ game jueteng proves that he should not run for the presidency again.

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes, head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate, said Estrada’s statement that he is for the legalization of jueteng to help solve poverty shows he is not apt to govern.

“It’s a very bad move to legalize jueteng. He should not run for president if this is his thinking,” he said over Church-run Radio Veritas 846 Wednesday.

Bastes’ view was echoed by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, chairman of the CBCP’s National Secretariat for Social Action Justice and Peace.

“His perception is not right. How can jueteng eradicate poverty? The Philippines will suffer if our leaders think that way,” he said.

Catarman Bishop Emmanuel Trance also expressed opposition to Estrada’s jueteng stance. (With reports from Brenda Piquero, Aris Ilagan and Leslie Ann Aquino)