Speaking before former officials of the Marcos administration at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City last Thursday, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said he finds "weak" the evidence presented at the trial by prosecutors of the House of Representatives.
"We had a taste of the kind of evidence against (President) Estrada," he said. "(The prosecution) will lose the case."
Also present to hear Enrile speak were Ilocos Norte Gov. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., his sister, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos and their cousin Leyte Rep. Alfred Romualdez. The three hosted the affair.
Another judge, Sen. Francisco Tatad, told the same gathering that history shows all three Philippine presidents who had faced impeachment were not removed from office.
Tatad, who was press secretary and information minister under President Ferdinand Marcos, gave as examples the cases of Presidents Elpidio Quirino, Diosdado Macapagal, and Marcos.
Tatad said the impeachment complaint against Quirino in 1949 was thrown out by Congress after the editors of a newspaper admitted they had invented the charges against the President.
As for Macapagal – father of Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo – charges of involvement in anomalies in the General Appropriations Act in 1964 did not prosper after it was rejected by Congress, he added.
Tatad said the impeachment case against Marcos in 1985 was also thrown out by the Interim Batasang Pambansa, and he was not tried by the unicameral assembly.
Enrile also warned that demonstrations may continue even if Mr. Estrada is acquitted or convicted in the impeachment trial being heard at the Senate.
"There are forces operating in our country to put our government into political turbulence," he said. "I don’t possibly see an end to this crisis even if we finished the impeachment and even if we convict (President) Estrada."
Enrile said pro-Estrada groups can muster the numbers to counter the series of anti-Estrada rallies being spearheaded by former President Corazon Aquino and Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin.
"They (Cory and Sin) don’t know how to forgive and have no charity in the heart," he said. "If (President) Estrada will be acquitted, the forces against him will rally against him."
Enrile said he has rejected the request of some opposition leaders for him to join Aquino and Sin in demonstrations whose purpose is to pressure Mr. Estrada to resign.
"I cannot join Cory who called me a mere miron (fence-sitter), Sin who called me a demon; and (Sen. Franklin) Drilon... who charged me with an (offense) which we cannot even find in the Constitution during the Aquino administration," he said.
Enrile said he would not take part again in any military coup to overthrow an incumbent president, which was what he did in 1986 to oust Marcos and install Aquino.
"The military may support to unseat the president," he said. "But never again should the military join to unseat the incumbent president. I experienced that once. I know the consequences and I will never do that again."
Enrile said nobody can convince him to join any "people power II" to oust Mr. Estrada, "not Cory nor Sin nor Drilon" as what happened in 1986.
"I know the danger of such consequence and how it divided the country into two warring camps like what had happened in Spain...," he said. "Let’s build a new nation instead of doing that again."
On the other hand, Enrile said he would help the administration do "what it ought to do" to alleviate the present economic status of poor Filipinos.
Enrile, who was one of the implementors of martial law and a principal player in the 1986 EDSA revolution, said the government has failed to "rebuild the nation" 14 years after the people power revolt.
"I participated in martial law in 1972 because I believed it was the right thing to do at that time," he said. "Only God knows why (the EDSA revolution) happened."
Nine months into her presidency, Aquino fired Enrile as defense minister after he was implicated in a coup plot code named "God Save the Queen."