National officers and members of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) expressed their full support to the candidacy of former President Joseph Estrada, who they said has “triumphantly returned to his endeared mass of Filipinos to fulfill his destiny.”

The group, in its resolution, said that they are giving their unqualified commitment and support to the deposed leader as the PMP’s official candidate for President in the upcoming 2010 presidential elections.

The PMP leadership cited that Estrada is the most qualified among all of the candidates for the position given his extensive experience in government service, spanning more than 30 years from when he started as mayor of San Juan, until the time he won the presidency in 1998.

“The term of H.E. Joseph Ejercito Estrada as President of this Republic was unconstitutionally terminated in 2001 by the conspiracy of groups from the military, big businesses and the elite, and the religious community…. As a consequence of that conspiracy, 11 million Filipinos who voted for President Estrada in 1998 were robbed of the full six-year term of his presidency,”

“Because of his advocacy for the poor and the less privileged, President Estrada had to bear many untold acts of harassment, demeaning personal affronts to his person and his family, and finally made to suffer and endure 6 ½ years of imprisonment,” the statement said.

The group said that only Estrada has the ability to save the country from decay, bankruptcy and forlorn, especially now that he has been granted absolute pardon, which comes with the restoration of his freedom, civil and political rights.