Estrada: Let me leave for US

Jailed former President Joseph Estrada sought yesterday the immediate resolution by the Sandiganbayan of his motion to undergo knee surgery in the United States because the ailment is "life-threatening."

In a three-page manifestation, Estrada, through his lawyer former senator Rene Saguisag, said his knee operation cannot be handled by a non-expert because it may cost him his life.

Estrada attached an article from a newspaper in the US which stated that three American patients died wile undergoing knee surgery.

The report, published in the Nov. 23 issue of the International Herald Tribune, said "state and federal health officials in Washington" are investigating the deaths last week of three Minnesota patients who succumbed to massive bacterial infection after knee operations."

"The principal accused, by counsel, respectfully manifest that we are awaiting the information sought by the prosecution. But meantime, may we attach to the record, an item we spotted in the International Herald Tribune yesterday, showing that even in the land where President ... Arroyo just obtained a lot of assistance, and which has state-of-the-art equipment and expertise, knee surgery could even be life-threatening. We could not be more antiseptic in a land where trash could not even be properly collected," Estrada said.

Last Nov. 10, Estrada asked the Sandiganbayan’s third division chaired by Associate Justice Anacleto Badoy Jr. permission to travel to the US for a knee operation.

Estrada said he has to undergo a total joint replacement, through "arthroscopic surgery," of his two knees.

He said that equipment that will be used to operate on him for a total joint replacement is unavailable in the country.

Badoy has yet to rule on Estrada’s motion.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto has asked Estrada’s lawyers to specify the special equipment needed for the ousted leader’s knee operation to enable them to determine if it really is not available locally.

Estrada is facing five criminal charges, including the capital offense of plunder, before the different divisions of the anti-graft court.

These charges are two counts of perjury, one each in the first and third divisions; one graft charge in the first division; and illegal use of an alias and the plunder case both being handled by the third division.

Meanwhile, Estrada’s spokesman Jesus Crispin Remulla accused yesterday Badoy of speeding up the trial so he can render a conviction before his retirement next year.

Remulla said that Badoy’s partiality is so obvious that he has denied Estrada "many of his rights as an accused" so that the controversial justice can decide on Estrada’s fate before his retirement in October 2002.

"Mr. Estrada will certainly be convicted of plunder unless Justice Badoy inhibits himself. And since he has no plans to do so, he is pushing for a quick trial so he can make a biased decision," Remulla said at a press conference.

He stressed that the justices’ vagueness in their explanations whenever they deny Estrada and his co-accused certain requests, is political persecution and reeked of a shotgun approach.

The Estrada supporter added that the upholding of the plunder law by the Supreme Court last Monday showed the unpredictability of the judicial system.

"The law they upheld is full of vagueness and a lack of due process. This is why the judiciary contributes to the demise of the country’s economy," he told newsmen.

Asked to comment on Estrada’s being one of the senators who passed the plunder law, Remulla could only say that he was part of the group of legislators "who made a mistake."

He admitted that the Supreme Court’s 10-4-1 decision was a big blow and disappointment to the former president because "we all had high hopes that they would decide otherwise."

"We had dinner a few days ago and Mr. Estrada couldn’t even chew his food. He was so sad and demoralized by the decision," Remulla said, as he blamed the SC "for all this mess." The filing of a motion for reconsideration was forthcoming, he said. - With reports from Nikko Dizon, Matthew Estabillo