By CARLOS H. CONDE


QUEZON CITY, Philippines - It was an improbable sight: a slightly hunched man with a gait that suggested either his age (72) or infirmity (a bad back and knees that required replacement surgery), beating up a taller opponent no older than 30.

The older man cut down the younger one with a right to the abdomen and a left hook to the face..

“I missed doing this,” the older man, Joseph Estrada - longtime actor and onetime president of the Philippines - said moments after the director cried “Cut!” Mr. Estrada then walked toward the gate of the bus terminal where the movie was being shot and greeted a gawking crowd.

“Don’t forget me, O.K.? We will take back Malacanang!” he hollered. The crowd responded by chanting his nickname: “Erap! Erap!” That is pare, or buddy in Filipino, spelled backward.

Malacanang is the presidential palace, and Mr. Estrada managed to stay there for less than half of his six-year term. He was driven from office in 2001 after a Senate impeachment trial on allegations of corruption - including accusations that he took kickbacks from gambling lords - was cut short by attempts by Mr. Estrada’s allies to suppress evidence, sending Filipinos to the streets in protest.

Last month, he announced that he would run again for president next year, calling it his “final, final performance.” The news flummoxed his political opponents and upset the Philippines’ already rambunctious politics.

Mr. Estrada’s return to movies follows a break of more than two decades, including the six years he spent in prison for corruption. His return to politics - despite his promise to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when she pardoned him in 2007 that he would never again seek elective office - is a chance to take care of unfinished business. He said he had decided to run again “so I can clean up my name and prove to those who removed me that they were wrong.”

Whether he can accomplish that is not clear. The Philippine Constitution prohibits a president from seeking another term. His opponents vow to take the issue to the Supreme Court.

Many people still adore Mr. Estrada, but many others are offended not just by his audacity but also by his insistence that what happened in 2001 was an illegal coup staged by the country’s elite.

“It is only in the Philippines where a disgraced president who was ousted by a people’s uprising would dare run for the presidency again,” Benjie Oliveros, a political columnist, wrote.

Mr. Estrada made more than 100 films in a career spanning three decades, often portraying poor men seeking justice. These roles endeared him to voters, he said, enough to elect him first as mayor for 17 years of San Juan, a suburb of Manila, then as senator, vice president and president.

He also impressed nationalists when he produced and starred in the 1989 film “In the Claws of the Eagle,” which was highly critical of United States military bases.

That the movie he is making now, “One and Only Family,” is a comedy about a jeepney driver who gives his daughter’s boyfriend a hard time is hardly an issue with Mr. Estrada.

“I enjoy doing this, and I missed doing this,” he said.


NACHO HERNANDEZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES / Joseph Estrada, near right, a former movie star and president, is attempting a comeback at 72.