Impeachment Trial of Philippines President To Begin With Controversy

Dec. 7, 2000 -- Hollywood scriptwriters couldn’t have written it better. A president who used to be an action movie star, on trial for corruption and facing the prospect of evidence from at least three mistresses, a vengeful former drinking buddy...and his wife.

The Philippine Senate began its impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada today, the first impeachment hearing in Asia of a sitting president.

But for the Filipino people, the events leading up to the trial have a vaguely familiar ring.

The impassioned public protests in the streets of the capital Manila call to mind the demonstrations in the mid-1980s when “people power” led to the ousting of colorful Filipino strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

This time, though, the drama in Manila is playing out more like a soap opera than a big screen blockbuster.

Estrada has reportedly fathered seven children with five womenother than his wife.

This, in a predominantly Roman Catholic nation that stretches across 7,107 islands in Southeast Asia.

The story-line goes back to a press conference a few months ago, when Luis Singson, a provincial governor and former Estrada drinking buddy announced that since 1998, he had collected $11.7 million in dirty money for the president.

Singson, the governor of Ilocos Su, said nearly $8.9 million of this amount were payoffs from operators of jueteng, an illegal lottery game particularly popular among the poor.

He also accused Estrada of skimming a cool $2.8 million off tobacco taxes.

Revenge and Betrayal

Estrada has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, corruption, culpable violation of the constitution and betrayal of public trust.

Appearing in public on the eve of his impeachment on Wednesday, Estrada said he would leave his fate in the hands of God and the senators who judged him.

Ever since the corruption allegations became public, Estrada has cited jealousy among his political rivals as a ruse to strip him of power before the scheduled end of his term in 2004.

The crisis has created deep political rifts between high-profile Philippines leaders. Former first lady Imelda Marcos, herself a bon vivant par extravagance, has taken Estrada’s side.

His opponents include former presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos and Manila’s influential archbishop, Jaime Cardinal Sin.

Sin, who helped lead the 1986 revolt, which swept away the Marcos’ dictatorship, had earlier urged Filipinos topray the rosary every day — at home, in school and at workduring lunch breaks — to persuade Estrada to step down.

While Estrada has acknowledged Singson offered him a bribe, he insists he refused to accept the cash. The money nevertheless reportedly ended up in the bank account of a Muslim youth foundation established by the president.

Critics say the foundation was used by Estrada to cover up payoffs.

Allegations against Estrada also include the purchase of several plush houses for his various mistresses using illegally acquired money.

Mistresses for Witnesses

Philippine prosecutors had earlier attempted to avoid calling Estrada’s mistresses to testify athis impeachment trial.

But this week, prosecutor Oscar Moreno said he had no choice but to call the president’s mistresses after Estrada stopped the prosecution team from inspecting a number of properties he allegedly built for them.

“We would have preferred the taking of depositions on these ladies instead of asking them to testify in open court, in order to spare them and their respective families from the glare of media which would be overly humiliating,” Moreno said.

“[But]... the president clearly showed he has many things to hide and would suppress the evidence even at the expense of exposing his mistresses to scrutiny and even ignominy.”

Moreno said his team had wished to search Estrada’s private home, the alleged houses of three mistresses and a mountain villa south of Manila.

Moreno said the president’s wife, First Lady Luisa Ejercito, would also be called to answer allegations that the couple failed to declare assets in tax returns.

A Drawn-Out Drama

Opposition leaders had feared that summoning Estrada’s mistresses as witnesses would only lengthen trial proceedings.

Political analysts have warned that a long drawn out trialwould worsen the country’s political crisis and further harm an already damaged economy.

A two-thirds vote by the 22-member Senate, or at least 15senators, are needed to convict Estrada and remove him fromoffice. Conviction on any one of the four counts against him is enough to unseat him.

Analysts say the outcome could go either way, anda full-page newspaper advertisement by an opposition groupindicated the voting would be close.

The advertisement said four senators were “definitely,shamelessly or unabashedly” pro-Estrada, two were friends of the president and most probably would vote for him while one was ill and likely to be absent, in effect a vote foracquittal.

‘La Vida Loca’

For the past few weeks, the campaigns for and against Estrada have turned Manila’s streets into a battleground.

While presidential supporters have marched chanting “Estrada remain,” anti-Estrada demonstrators have burned enormous effigies of the president as the nation has pulsated to the beat of protest music, a popular Filipino tradition, in the past few days.

Street songs of protest often include Christmas carols, Filipino ditties and the Ricky Martin hit Livin’ La Vida Loca which has become a virtual anthem at numerous anti-Estrada rallies.

Tens of thousands of people marched outside the Senate building as the trial began. Big groups of Estrada supporters were also turning out and thousands of police were deployed to maintain order in the capital.

Despite rumors of cases of dissatisfaction withinthe military, the armed forces had not been affected by the political crisis, said National Security Adviser AlexanderAguirre today.

Some retired officers have been calling for protests fromwithin the military, which has said it will steer clear of the political divide between Estrada and his opponents.

Elements in the military mounted a series of coup attemptsin the late 1980s but they all failed.

Current military chief General Angelo Reyes has said the armed forces will support whoever is legally head of the government.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.