Sandiganbayan raffles off Estrada’s criminal cases

The Sandiganbayan raffled off yesterday the eight criminal charges against ousted President Joseph Estrada, with the capital offense of plunder going to Justice Anacleto Badoy.

Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena has ruled out immediate arrest of the disgraced president, saying the justices still have to carefully study the complaints filed by the Office of the Ombudsman to determine if there is probable cause to proceed with the trial.

Estrada and his son, San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, were accused of plunder for allegedly amassing some P4 billion in ill-gotten wealth during his 31 months in power.

The 63-year-old former movie star was indicted on Wednesday on the non-bailable offense of plunder which is theoretically punishable by death, and seven other cases of graft and corruption.

The filing of the cases came a day after the Supreme Court (SC) junked his petitions asking the tribunal to reverse its March 2 unanimous decision declaring he had permanently lost the presidency when he vacated Malacañang on Jan. 20 at the climax of a popular uprising supported by the military.

The SC also ruled that Estrada, having ceased to be president, cannot invoke executive immunity from suit.

Estrada maintained, however, that he did not resign as the duly elected president, and that President Arroyo merely took over in acting capacity.

With the specter of arrest hounding him, Estrada dared the Arroyo administration to get him. "Go ahead, arrest me," he told reporters while campaigning for the opposition senatorial candidates in Roxas City.

Estrada insisted he was innocent and blamed what he called the "ruling elite" for his ouster.

Former Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said Estrada was willing to be locked up if convicted and would not seek any special concessions from the government.

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Blas Ople and Sen. Rodolfo Biazon called on the both the administration and the opposition parties to stop making inflammatory statements and putting political color on the filing of the criminal charges against Estrada.

Ople, vice president of the opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, said his warning covered Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Juan Ponce Enrile, as well as former First Lady Dr. Luisa "Loi" Ejercito and Jinggoy who have been talking about the possibility of an "EDSA III," civil unrest and even revolution in defending Estrada from the charges.

On the other hand, the administration People Power Coalition (PPC) boasts of a 13-0 sweep of the senatorial race in the May 14 elections as a result of the filing of the cases.

Ople said both sides should let the cases take their due course before the Sandiganbayan and refrain from making "reckless and inflammatory publicity."

"I ask both sides to back off from the edge of the precipice of civil unrest," Ople said.

"We should not play around the issue and render it a purely political one," Biazon said.

For his part, Enrile served caution against the indiscriminate use of the word "revolution."

Meanwhile, Makati Rep. Joker Arroyo urged Estrada to stay away from politics and focus on the cases lodged against him by the Ombudsman.

Arroyo, who is seeking a Senate seat under the PPC banner, said Estrada’s forthcoming trial will give him the opportunity to explain his side.

"Since the start of the impeachment trial, he has been claiming he can answer the charges, but up to now, he has not done so," Arroyo noted.

Arroyo was a member of the House prosecution panel in the failed impeachment trial.

He dismissed as "wishful thinking" claims by the Estrada camp that violence would erupt if the former president is arrested and detained on the plunder case.

"I doubt if his remaining supporters are willing to die for him," he added.

Former Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado appealed for sobriety amid threats of revolution by the Estrada quarters.

"We appeal to everyone concerned, including media, to avoid further fanning the flames of political passion and to allow our judicial processes to proceed appropriately," Mercado said in a statement.

He stressed that the "majesty of the law will prevail, with the courts deciding on Estrada’s guilt or innocence on the basis of the evidence and nothing else."

Quezon Rep. Wigberto Tañada, another senatorial bet of PPC, also said the filing of the cases would give Estrada his day in court.

He slammed Estrada for charging that the SC decision was tantamount to the absence of the rule of law in the country.

"His trial will prove to one and all that we have a rule of law that spares no one, not even a former president. Yet this same rule of law affords him the opportunity to challenge those cases and prove his accusers wrong," said Tañada, who was also a member of House prosecution panel in the impeachment trial.

In another development, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called on rabid Estrada followers to end their "blind loyalty" to him.

"Wake up and stay awake because Estrada had deceived you. He will continuously deceive you," the CBCP’s National Secretariat of Social Action, Justice and Peace (NASSA) said in a statement.

"Contrary to his promise, Estrada, as his modus operandi, deceived and would continuously deceive the poor with more hollow promises and make them cushions of his egotism," the statement added.

NASSA also said blind loyalty is "damning to the soul. It distorts belief, thwarts values and stunts development. A people’s loyalty should be to the nation and not to Estrada." — Efren Danao, Jess Diaz, Sandy Araneta