The former Philippine president and actor Joseph Estrada announced Thursday he would play in a new film, which will help Filipinos cheer up a bit and forget about the daily hardships they have to deal with due to Arroyo’s rule.

“Because of rising poverty, people are all crying in their home so I want to make them laugh and give them some relief,” told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

He said that the movie has not been titled yet. However, the script is ready and the shooting is scheduled to begin in May. It would be a comedy with popular Filipina funnywoman Ai-Ai de las Alas. Estrada, who is one of the biggest movie stars of the country, having played in almost 100 movies over thirty years, will play a worker who has come back from overseas.

He added that his fee will be donated to charity for children and movie industry workers, AFP reports.

Most of his roles have portrayed poor, simple men fighting against wealthy people, a sort of Robin Hood of Philippine. He has become very popular especially among poor Filipinos. However, Estrada said that he will not be part of any other films, due to his age. His last film was in 1989, when he was still a senator, Reuters informs.

Estrada won the elections for presidency in 1998, but in 2001 he was ousted in a military-backed uprising over allegations of incompetence and corruption.

The 70-year-old Estrada is a convicted plunderer, who was pardoned in 2001 by his successor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whom he has called on to resign after she had been accused of large-scale corruption.