Exile for Estrada not feasible — DOJ

Exile for deposed President Joseph Estrada is neither legal nor feasible even if the courts and President Arroyo want to have him exiled, Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said yesterday.

The deposed leader’s congressional allies have called on the government to allow Estrada, who is on trial for plunder, to go abroad to calm political tensions.

But Perez said exile is not legally feasible.

"I was surprised by these proposals of exile being floated," he said.

"Even if the courts and the President desire (it), we cannot exile Estrada because our judicial system would be laughed at and it would show that we don’t have the political will to apply our own law," he said.

Estrada also cannot apply for political asylum in another country, as his human rights are not being violated, Perez said. "The assumption in seeking political asylum is that one is being persecuted. Prosecution is different from persecution," he said.

On the other hand, several congressmen are seeking exile for Estrada now that a move to convince the Sandiganbayan to allow him to seek medical treatment abroad is losing steam.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Benasing Macarambon, who belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), told reporters yesterday that he and some colleagues were filing a resolution containing an appeal for Estrada’s exile.

He said he already had eight signatures on his measure and that he was still soliciting more.

He and another loyal Estrada ally, Rep. Marcelino Libanan (NPC, Eastern Samar) are the principal authors of the resolution. Libanan chairs the justice committee that junked the bribery-related impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Aniano Desierto.

Under their proposal, Estrada’s trial for plunder and other charges would be suspended. Estrada would then be sent to another country with which the Philippines has an extradition treaty. He would return at some unspecified time when his trial resumes.

The two lawmakers initiated the move amid the withdrawal of signatures by many House members on a previous resolution asking the Sandiganbayan to allow Estrada to go abroad for knee surgery.

A group of Lakas congressmen led by Juan Miguel Zubiri of Bukidnon and Rolando Andaya Jr. of Camarines Sur is filing another resolution to counter the Macarambon-Libanan initiative. The two Lakas-NUCD stalwarts maintained that Estrada should not be sent to exile and should face the music here.

Zubiri and Andaya were part of the opposition led by then Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who is now Quezon City mayor, that initiated the impeachment process against Estrada.

Earlier, former President Fidel Ramos, one of the leaders of the ruling Lakas, warned the Arroyo administration against allowing exile for Estrada, saying it would send the message that the country has no moorings in justice.

No hand in withdrawal

Malacañang denied having had anything to do with the withdrawal by lawmakers from the Congress resolution which they had signed in support for allowing Estrada to go to the US for knee surgery.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said yesterday President Arroyo did not ask any of her People Power Coalition (PPC) members in both chambers of Congress who signed the Senate and House resolutions to withdraw their signatures.

"They have been doing it on their own without any Palace interference," Tiglao said.

Reports have it that Presidential Legislative Liaison Office secretary Gabriel Claudio had been going around Congress allegedly to ask PPC members to withdraw from the resolutions.

Reached by The STAR yesterday, Claudio vehemently denied the reports. "It’s not true. Why don’t you ask the senators? Can you name anybody who will tell you that I actually talked with them about that?" Claudio said, adding that he was not even keeping track on who were withdrawing their signatures.

Also at Malacañang, Tiglao expressed disgust yesterday over statements attributed to opposition Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta that the deposed president, like her late brother, was being tried by "kangaroo court."

"I think it’s a big insult to the martyr, Ninoy Aquino, to be likened to Mr. Estrada," Tiglao said.

Ninoy was tried by a military tribunal consisting of generals which Tiglao said was the "real kangaroo court."

"In this case (of Mr. Estrada), we have a Sandiganbayan which is supervised by the Supreme Court. It’s a very independent body," he said. "Senator Oreta should be more careful. (She’s) practically insulting the spirit of her brother."

‘Don’t turn over documents’

Also yesterday, Estrada ordered his former lawyers led by former Justice Secretary Serafin Cuevas, not to release documents and evidence to any person or entity, government or private, especially not to the new batch of lawyers, including those from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).

In a two-page letter to his nine lawyers, Estrada cited that under Canon 21 of the lawyers’ Code of Professional Responsibility, no lawyer is bound to reveal any confidences or secrets unless authorized by his client.

"Further, you are aware under Rule 22.02 of the same code that the turnover of all papers and property upon your withdrawal should be to the client, and you shall cooperate only with your successor in the orderly transfer of the matter," Estrada said.

Estrada also directed Cuevas, lawyers Raymond Fortun, Cleofe Verzola, Pacifico Agabin, Delia Hermoso, Jose Flaminiano, Jay Flaminiano, and former Sen. Rene Saguisag "to desist from cooperating with any person or entity, government or private, who or which I have not consented to be your successor in all of my cases where you have acted as counsel."

Last week the former leader dismissed all his nine lawyers after accusing the special court trying his cases of having already pre-judged him. Days later, he also rejected the seven lawyers assigned by the court to defend him.

Appointed by special division chairwoman Associate Justice Minita Nazario were lawyers Silvestre Mosing, Jefferson Toribio, Melita Lauron and Arturo Temaril, all of the PAO of Quezon City; and Philip Siegfrid Fortun, elder brother of Estrada’s former lawyer, now his spokesperson, Raymond Fortun.

She also directed the board of governors of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to designate two lawyers from among its members.

PAO director Jojo Moya said they would be asking anytime this week the special court to give the appointed PAO lawyers copies of all the documents pertaining to Estrada’s cases.

"We will try our best to coordinate with his lawyers. Sometime in the future, we may even seek an audience with the client (Estrada)," Moya said.

Peso stable despite destabilization talks

Industrialist Raul Concepcion belittled yesterday so-called destabilization efforts, saying the private sector is not affected by such talks and the peso remains strong.

Concepcion explained that the peso-dollar black market has remained stable, with the difference between the official exchange rate and the black market rate a mere 12 centavos.

Concepcion observed that the official peso-dollar exchange rate yesterday was 51.06 to $1, while the corresponding black market rate was 51.18 to $1.

If the private sector is really concerned about so-called destabilization moves, Concepcion said, the difference between the official exchange rate and the black market rate would have widened by as much as 50 centavos.

Concepcion was confident the so-called destabilization attempts would not materialize and would eventually just fade away.

Nonetheless, Concepcion said, foreign investors are likely to be more affected by such talks because they "look at things more cautiously."

Meanwhile, the issue of "the great escape" continues to heat up.

The fisher folk group Pamalakaya tagged yesterday ousted President Estrada’s plan to escape his plunder case as "God Save the Mafia King," as militant leaders urged the House of Representatives to shoot down proposals to exile Estrada.

Rodolfo Sambajon, Pamalakaya national chairman, said Estrada’s allies are moving heaven and earth to stop the wheel of justice from taking its normal course. It is all meant to rescue one of the most notorious criminals and one of the country’s biggest plunderers next to the late dictator Marcos, Sambajon added.

Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), on the other hand, warned Estrada supporters not to ruin this year’s Labor Day celebration on May 1, as they had done last year when they laid siege on Malacañang.

KMU secretary general Elmer Labog said Labor Day is a very important event and venue for workers for raising their demands and expressing their disapproval of anti-worker and anti-labor policies of the ruling government. "Estrada should not use this event to advance his narrow, self-serving political interests," he said.

The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino called on the pro-Estrada group to demand for justice for the poor and not just for Estrada. "The workers and the poor have all the reason to protest, if not rise against injustice, but we should do so not in sympathy for Estrada but in consideration of our own plight," said BMP president Victor Briz.

The militant church-based group, Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR), reiterated the group’s call on the public to be ever vigilant on any compromise deals that may be made between the Arroyo administration and Estrada for the disgraced leader’s exile. — Jose Rodel Clapano, Jess Diaz, Marianne Go, Marichu Villanueva, Sandy Araneta, Mayen Jaymalin, Romel Bagares