The 13th president of the Philippines, was born on April 19, 1937 in Tondo, a ghetto area of
Manila and once the home to the toughies and poorest of the poor, to Engr. Emilio Ejercito
(deceased) and Maria Marcelo. His father works for the government. Joseph's mother,
Maria Marcelo, a simple housewife, studied music at the Colegio de Santa Rosa.

After highschool, Joseph decided to study engineering to follow the footsteps of his
father. But in his third year at Mapua, he decided to try the movies. Displeased with his
decision to drop out of college, his parents forbade him to use his family name, which
forced him to adopt "Estrada" (Spanish for street) as ascreen name, and "Erap" (Pare or
Erap spelled backwards) as a nickname. During his movie career, he played the lead role in
more than a hundred movies and produce more than 70 films. He was the first FAMAS
Hall of Fame awardee for Best Actor (1981) and also became a Hall of Fame awardee as a
Producer (1983).

Estrada entered the politics when he ran for Mayor of San Juan in 1968. He was only
proclaimed Mayor in 1969, after he won an electoral protest against Dr. Braulio Sto.
domingo. As Mayor (1969-1986), Estrada was name one of the Ten Outstanding Young
Men (TOYM) in Public Administration. He was also named MOst Outstanding Mayor and
Foremost Nationalist (1972) and Most Outstanding Manila Mayor (1972) .