Acquittal to be met with massive civil disobedience

Leaders of the broad anti-administration movement warned yesterday of massive civil disobedience not felt since the 1986 EDSA people power revolt if ever the Senate acquits President Estrada in his impeachment trial.

The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the lead group in the Erap Resign Movement, said the President’s guilt has clearly been established following the testimony of an Equitable-PCIBank senior officer who named him as the owner of a P500-million account.

"An acquittal will absolutely be indefensible," Bayan chairman Rafael Mariano said. "We will continue protest actions while the trial goes on but we are prepared to go to a higher level of struggle when the situation calls for it."

The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) said anything other than a clear conviction would be unacceptable.

"If Malacañang is preparing for a post-acquittal scenario then we are also planning a nationwide campaign for civil disobedience that will ground the political and economic process to a halt," said Joshua Mata, one of the leaders of APL.

The APL belongs to the Labor Solidarity Movement (LSM), a broad alliance of moderate labor groups. LSM is part of the Kongreso ng Mamamayang Pilipino (Kompil) II, a network of some 170 civil society groups that have been demanding the immediate resignation of the President.

Mata said there is a general agreement among various anti-Estrada groups that in the event of an acquittal, the civil disobedience campaign should be launched in full-swing.

"The details of the campaign are still being discussed but there is a general consensus that peaceful and non-violent means must be taken in challenging the legitimacy of the Estrada administration," the APL leader said.

The militant women’s group Gabriela said there is no way for the President to go but out.

Gabriela secretary general Liza Maza said it was "poetic justice" that women contributed to the downfall of the President, whose life revolved around several mistresses.

Maza said many of the key witnesses in the trial were women, the latest of whom was Equitable senior vice president Clarissa Ocampo, who revealed that the President signed in her presence three copies of an investment management agreement as "Jose Velarde."

"Her testimony strengthened the charges that Mr. Estrada committed the crime of amassing ill-gotten wealth," the Gabriela leader said.