First RP president to be jailed (Erap yields peacefully after arrest warrant is served on him by police)
Jennee Grace U. Rubrico with Jacqueline P. Conclara
He may have made history as the first Philippine president to land in jail,but ousted President Joseph Estrada has remained defiant until his arrest yesterday.
Mr. Estrada made history for the second time yesterday when he became the first Philippine president to be arrested and imprisoned for a plunder charge filed against him.
Top police officers led by Philippine National Police Chief Leandro Mendoza and Sandiganbayan sheriff Eduardo Urrieta, armed with an arrest warrant from the anti-graft court, picked up Mr. Estrada from his residence in upscale North Greenhills in San Juan.
Mr. Estrada offered no resistance and was driven away to Camp Crame in a dark van as dozens of the former movie star's supporters broke down in tears.
Officials said Mr. Estrada, who faces death or life imprisonment on the plunder charge and whose power base is among the country's urban poor, had surrendered peacefully to police.
Photographers who joined a convoy carrying Mr. Estrada to his detention cell in the nearby police camp said the former president, wearing a white jacket over a polo shirt, looked glum and stared blankly into space, Reuters news agency reported.
A few hours before he was arrested, Mr. Estrada issued a statement accusing the Macapagal-Arroyo administration of harassing him and his family.
"They (new administration) continue to harass me, my lawyers, witnesses, friends, and family. They threaten us and file various cases against us. But I believe that in the end, truth will reign.And the Constitution will win out," Mr. Estrada said in Filipino.
He called on his supporters to pressure the new government to respect his rights and the Constitution, saying that he himself followed the law "to the letter" when he was president.
"I never violated your rights and always respected the Constitution. I respected the rights of those who protested in EDSA even when they imputed all kinds of accusations, insults and oppression (against me). I never ordered the police and the military to disperse their rallies in EDSA even when they did not have permits," he said.
"I followed the rule of law to the letter. And I ask our people now to tell the powers that be to respect our constitution and the rule of law," Mr. Estrada said.
In his statement, which was pre-recorded and played in several radio and television stations yesterday afternoon, Mr. Estrada enumerated his "achievements" during his two-and-a-half-year stint as President.
Among the "achievements" he mentioned were his government's success in overrunning the rebel camps of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, awarding homes to soldiers, teachers and overseas Filipino workers, and restoring peace and order in Manila.
Mr. Estrada made history last year after becoming the first president of the country to be impeached by the House of Representatives. The charges against him included graft and corruption, bribery, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of the public trust.
The impeachment trial in the Senate ended abruptly in January, after popular outrage erupted as a result of the tribunal's vote not to open an envelope said to have contained crucial evidence against Mr. Estrada.
The trial proceedings, however, became the basis for the government to file several criminal charges against him with the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.Among the cases filed against Mr. Estrada is a case for economic plunder, a non-bailable criminal offense which is punishable by death or life imprisonment.
Although he was planning to surrender to the Sandiganbayan as soon as the arrest warrant for him was issued, Mr. Estrada ended up being arrested and escorted by policemen out of his residence on Polk Street, in North Greenhills, San Juan, three and a half hours after the 20-man arresting team arrived with his warrant.
He was then motored to the former offices of the disbanded Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force detention cell in Camp Crame in Quezon City, where he was temporarily detained.
He is expected to be transferred to the PNP special action force training camp in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
As in his exit from Malacanang three months ago, Mr. Estrada was accompanied by his wife, Luisa "Loi" Ejercito, and his son San Juan mayor Jinggoy Estrada when he left Polk Street.The young Estrada is a co-accused in the criminal cases.
As hundreds of supporters wailed while Mr. Estrada was being motored out of North Greenhills, actor Philip Salvador, a close friend of Mr. Estrada, and Estrada lawyers Ronaldo Puno and former Supreme Court chief Justice Andres Narvasa, escorted the ousted president in a separate vehicle.
Another Estrada son, J.V. Ejercito, had gone ahead at Camp Crame aboard a white van.
Mr. Estrada's arrest was preceded by violence as anti-riot policemen twice dispersed the Estrada supporters who assembled in front of Mr. Estrada's house. A number of people were reported hurt, although Estrada loyalists' claims of casualties from alleged police gunfire were quickly debunked.
In a radio interview aired over radio station dzMM, Mr. Estrada's lawyer, Raymund Fortun, decried the Macapagal-Arroyo administration's "forceful" arrest of his client.
"We can see that they (PNP) were really forcing the arrest. What this administration is doing is not humane," Mr. Fortun said.
Mr. Fortun had told BusinessWorld in an earlier telephone interview that Mr. Estrada was making preparations for his surrender to the Sandiganbayan.
However, the lawyer claimed the plan fell apart after PNP's Mr. Mendoza refused to talk to him.
Mr. Fortun claimed he had tried to call Mr. Mendoza, but was told by the PNP chief's aide that he could not be disturbed as he was having his lunch.
Mr. Fortun also said the defense lawyers asked the Sandiganbayan to place Estrada under house arrest, saying the request was forwarded to ensure the security of Mr. Estrada as well as to accord the former president the "courtesy and respect befitting the presidential office."
At Malacanang, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Mr. Estrada's arrest was "as it should be."
"The Sandiganbayan has spoken and the message is clear. Former president Joseph Estrada has been arrested and is now in the process of being sent to jail. He has been accused of plunder and plunder is a capital offense that is non-bailable. This is as it should be," she said in a statement read by Presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao
"The Filipino people were victimized when government funds were used for private purposes. They deserve justice, and this is what the decision of the Sandiganbayan is all about. It is all about justice," Ms. Macapagal-Arroyo's statement said.
She also called on Estrada supporters to "let sobriety prevail" and stop politicizing the court cases, saying the ousted president stands trial because crimes have been committed and he has been accused of committing them.
"Politics is not and has never been the bone of contention here. The court has recognized that there is probable cause and that crimes have been committed and therefore the person accused of perpetrating the crime must stand trial. He will have his day in court," she said.
"It is not the poor being oppressed by the rich or the rich trampling (over) the rights of the poor which is at stake in the plunder cases. Crimes have been committed and the accused has been accused of committing them. No amount of oratory could alter this or gloss this over. In the meantime, let the trial begin. The court is the proper venue since the trial of Joseph Estrada is neither a political matter nor a class war," she added.
Following yesterday's arrest, the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation said it saw no need to issue a new hold departure order (HDO) on Mr. Estrada and his co-accused in the plunder case.
In a phone interview, BID commissioner Cueto said the previous HDO, with number F632001-043, issued by the bureau last January 23 will remain enforced until it is ordered lifted.
"The previous HDO is still valid and will remain in effect until the Sandiganbayan or any other court orders otherwise," Mr. Cueto explained.
Aside from Mr. Estrada, the Jan. 23 HDO also included former government officials and cronies including Estrada son Jinggoy, wife Loi, former Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno, Jaime Policarpio, Edward Serapio, Ronaldo Zamora, Yolanda Ricaforte,Mark Jimenez, Dante Ang and Charlie Ang.
In addition to the Jan. 23 HDO, Mr. Cueto said the BID also issued two other orders last April 17 and 19 which did not include the other personalities covered by initial one. "But in all these orders, Mr. Estrada is always included," he added.
Mr. Cueto explained that the multiple issuances of HDOs for the former president present no problem as it was only a precaution and a means to stress the previous orders.
"Probably the people only wanted to be sure about it," he said.
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