Legislative elections and local elections were held in the Philippines on May 14, 2001, independent candidate Noli de Castro, a former television anchor of TV Patrol of ABS-CBN was announced as the topnotcher in the Senate race. This was the first synchronized national and local elections held after the ouster of former president Joseph Estrada in January due to a military-backed civilian uprising (popularly known as EDSA II) with pro-Estrada counter-protests that followed right before Election Day. On February 20, 2007, the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that former senator Gregorio Honasan lost in the 2001 Philippine elections and lost to Sen. Ralph Recto but declared constitutional the special election for the remaining three-year term of Teofisto Guingona.