‘Not enough reason for Estrada to quit’

No, President Estrada will not resign even if the country’s economy continues to worsen due to the jueteng payoff allegations hounding him, his political adviser said yesterday.

Lito Banayo, Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs, said Mr. Estrada will not step down because very little evidence has been presented to support the allegations made by Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson.

"The (economic) crisis that is affecting the country is not caused by jueteng," he told the weekly forum of the Greenhills Walking Corp. at the Ristorante La Dolce Fontana in San Juan.

Banayo blamed the plunging peso-dollar rate and the weak performance of the stock market on persistent speculative attacks on regional currencies.

He said those clamoring for the President’s resignation should file an impeachment complaint before the House of Representatives and prove the allegations.

Forty congressmen, led by Rep. Heherson Alvarez (Lakas, Isabela), yesterday filed an impeachment complaint against the President.

They are confident that they will muster the needed 73 votes for Mr. Estrada’s impeachment.

"The jueteng payoff issue is a fight over the credibility between Singson and the President. We must not prejudge the President and not simply believe the utterances of Singson, who has low credibility," he said.

The payoff scandal – the worst crisis to rock Mr. Estrada’s 28-month-old administration – has been battering the country’s already frail economy. The plummeting peso and the grim prospect of economic collapse are fueling a growing clamor for Mr. Estrada’s resignation.

Alarmed by the threat posed by the jueteng scandal on the economy, former President Corazon Aquino broke her silence on the issue the other day.

She urged Mr. Estrada to resign or take a leave of absence, with Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo taking over in an acting capacity.

"There are times that try men’s souls and moments when love of country calls for supreme self-sacrifice, even if it means resignation," Aquino said in a prayer rally at the EDSA Shrine in Quezon City.

"After he has obtained a full exoneration in an investigation over which he has no control, he can take back the presidency," she said.

Manila’s influential Catholic archbishop, Jaime Cardinal Sin, who held a Mass at the prayer rally, urged Mr. Estrada to resign.

Mr. Estrada said he would not step down and would not "stay a minute longer if I violated my sworn duties."

Financial market analysts said "lack of confidence" in the Estrada administration has been scaring away investments.

Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora earlier warned that a prolonged impeachment debate might harm the economy as the crisis drags on.

Aquino did not support efforts to impeach Mr. Estrada, saying, "It will put the truth at the mercy of numbers."

Mr. Estrada has been egging the political opposition to file an impeachment complaint against him in the House of Representatives, confident that it would be shot down by the LAMP ruling coalition that dominates both chambers of Congress.

If one-third of the 219-member House or 73 congressmen vote to impeach Mr. Estrada, the complaint will then be submitted to the Senate for trial.

The Senate will then act as a tribunal, with 16 votes needed for a conviction.