Estrada on Sin: I’ll pray for his enlightenment

Ousted President Joseph Estrada said yesterday he would just pray for the "enlightenment" of Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin who has opposed his trip to the United States for medical treatment.

Speaking on radio, Estrada said he had not expected Sin to make "un-Christian" statements during Mass Sunday at the Our Lady of EDSA Shrine in Mandaluyong City to dismiss his plea before the Sandiganbayan.

Sin had said mercy without justice was "kalokohan" or nonsense as he opposed moves to allow Estrada to seek medical treatment in the United States.

"I will just pray and hope that Cardinal Sin would be able to see the light in considering my appeal to seek medical treatment abroad," Estrada said.

"I hope that compassion will reign in his heart and that politics will not cloud his judgment as an official of the Catholic Church, whose teachings focus on humanity, kindness and forgiveness," he said.

Estrada said Sin also erred in comparing his case to the late President Ferdinand Marcos, who did not flee but was forced into exile at the height of the people power uprising in 1986.

"My case is entirely different from that of President Marcos," he said. He has been strictly following the legal process in seeking medical treatment abroad and has vowed to return to face the criminal charges against him, Estrada added.

On the other hand, Jesus Crispin Remulla, spokesman of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino, said Sin has proved to be "Padre Damaso-incarnate" when he used the pulpit to criticize Estrada, referring to the oppressive and devious friar in Jose Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere.

"Cardinal Sin and his Catholic Church cohorts have unmasked themselves as traditional politicians in priests’ clothing when they converted the pulpit into a tool to bash President Estrada," he said. "We are shocked by this utter lack of sympathy and concern displayed by the country’s highest-ranking Catholic Church official."

Remulla said while rallies were banned at the EDSA shrine, Sin used his position as a prelate of the Catholic Church to deliver a "highly political" message against Estrada.

"While Cardinal Sin has been banning political rallies at the EDSA Shrine, he has been freely using the pulpit to engage in Erap bashing," he said. "This is hypocrisy at its worst form."

At Malacañang, Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said yesterday Sin’s opinion about Estrada should be taken seriously because he is the leader of the Catholic Church in the country.

"But again and again, we are emphasizing, it’s all the decision of the Sandiganbayan," he said.

"We should learn now that the Sandiganbayan is our court system and the entity in charge of disposition of people who are facing charges in court. It is really time, when it used to be in fad to pressure the court system, the President would like to set a new precedent that the President does not interfere in court even on persuasion basis."

Meanwhile, former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson told reporters yesterday at the Bulong Pulungan media forum at the Westin Philippine Plaza that he would withdraw as a prosecution witness in Estrada’s plunder case if the Sandiganbayan allowed the former President to leave for the US.

"It is not that I do not want to (testify) but because it would be futile," he said. "I am dead sure that (Estrada) would not come back here. There are enough doctors here. If he doesn’t trust them, he has billions of pesos to bring those doctors here (from the US)."

Singson said Estrada would prefer to go on exile because government prosecutors are pitting "more witnesses" against him in his various criminal cases.

"To get out of the country, that is the only way for him," he said. "That is the reason why his lawyers are delaying the case. If he is really innocent, he should persevere to finish the trial immediately so he can be set free right away...His knee operation is not an emergency, the knee is far from the heart."

Estrada said he has asked the Sandiganbayan to allow him to have medical treatment in the United States because of his trust and confidence in Dr. Christopher Mow, the California-based bone specialist who has been treating his knee ailment since 1998.

"I am not belittling the capability of our doctors here," he said. "In fact, I admire and respect our Filipino orthopedic surgeons because of their skills. But being a patient, it is only natural for me to seek treatment from a doctor whom I trust. Dr. Mow knows the complete history of my osteoarthritis, which he has been treating for three years now."

Mow, an orthopedic surgeon and assistant clinical professor at Stanford University Medical Center, said Estrada "will not be able to walk much in his present condition" if he does not immediately undergo "total knee replacement" surgery.

The surgery on Estrada could only be done in the US because a specially designed operating room at Stanford is required for the operation, he added.

Mow said installing this type of operating room in the Philippines would entail the remodeling, reconstruction, and modification of the hospital where Estrada would undergo surgery.

Transporting his entire medical team and surgery equipment to the Philippines would mean spending several thousands of dollars since he would perform the operation only on his terms as Estrada’s surgeon of choice, he added.

Estrada said he had to be regularly injected with steroids so he could endure the excruciating pain, but that steroids could worsen his condition in the long run.

Quoting Mow, Estrada said his long-overdue operation, if delayed further, might leave him a cripple for life.

"The surgery should have been conducted last year but due to the impeachment trial, my scheduled operation did not push through," he said. "My surgery is already long overdue." — With Mairhcu Villanueva, Jose Aravilla