Aircon but no TV, cell phone for Estrada

The jail is spartan but comfortable.

For a former president, the Sandiganbayan has allowed solitary detention in an air-conditioned cell, a soft cot, a clean bathroom and a corner desk which can be used to write memoirs.

Deposed President Joseph Estrada, however, can’t have a television, a telephone or cellular phone.

The disgraced former president was detained yesterday at the headquarters of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) at Camp Crame. The cell will be guarded around the clock by policemen.

Estrada had created the PAOCTF, which became the most powerful police unit during his administration. It was disbanded recently amid reports that the task force functioned as the biggest criminal gang in the country.

The task force jail was built for organized crime lords and their henchmen.

Interior and Local Go-vernment Secretary Jose Lina said Estrada "will be comfortable (even though) the area is very spartan."

Lina has given assurance that Estrada will be given due respect and security befitting a former head of state.

"We want to make sure that there will be no miscarriage of justice. If something happens to the former pre-sident, then the government will be blamed," Lina said.

He added that Estrada will be allowed to entertain callers who can bring him food if they want.

The new inmate’s cell is on the same floor as those housing Hector Janjalani, a leader of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, and several suspected drug dealers awaiting trial.

The 3.5-meter by 5.5-meter detention cell was within a heavily fortified building at Camp Crame that used to house the administrative offices of the elite PAOCTF, which was organized by Estrada himself to combat kidnapping-for-ransom and other major crime syndicates during his watch.

The PAOCTF was persistently hounded, however, by controversies, the latest of which was the alleged involvement of some of its operatives in the kidnap-slay of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, who were snatched by armed men on Nov. 24 last year.

The Dacer-Corbito case served as the last straw that prompted President Arroyo to disband the PAOCTF last April 15.

Estrada’s five co-accused, among them his son San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, will be held in separate cells.

Police were instructed not to give special treatment to Estrada while held at the PAOCTF jail in sprawling Camp Crame, where political dissidents were incarcerated during martial law imposed by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Incidentally, Camp Crame is adjacent to the swank Greenhills subdivision in San Juan where Estrada lives in a mansion on Polk street.

Prior to the arrest, authorities were in a dilemma over where to detain Estrada, arising from conflicting demands by militant groups which said he should be treated no differently from common prisoners, and pro-Estrada quarters who warned that he could be harmed in a common prison.

At least four special cells were prepared for the former president, all invariably equipped with an air-conditioning unit, a soft bed, clean bathrooms, an exercise area and a corner table.

An Estrada lawyer said they would file a motion with the court to place their client under house arrest.

Meanwhile, Lina revealed that Estrada may be transferred to Fort Domingo in Sta. Rosa town in Laguna to ensure his safety.

Lina said the government, through the Philippine National Police, would ask the Sandiganbayan to allow the transfer.

"We have to consider the security of former Prsident Estrada and we think Fort Domingo is the best place for him," Lina told reporters. Fort Domingo is the training camp of the PNP’s elite Special Action Force.

"We must not detain him in cells already occupied by ordinary criminals, who might harm or kill him just to get attention," Lina added.

Presidential Legal Counsel Avelino Cruz said Malacañang has endorsed the petition to detain Estrada at Fort Domingo, saying it was based on a decision by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Bureau of Jail Management.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the Palace also opposed the petition by Estrada lawyers to place the former president under house arrest.

"If the Sandiganbayan allows house arrest, it would be their responsibility if anything happens at the house," Tiglao said. — With Marichu Villanueva, Jaime Laude