‘Erap not asking for pardon, and GMA not giving one’

President Arroyo is not proposing that deposed President Joseph Estrada be granted pardon and the ousted leader himself is not seeking one, Housing Secretary Michael Defensor clarified the other night.

Defensor, political campaign spokesman for the President, said even Estrada prefers to go through the judicial process.

Defensor issued the clarification after Mrs. Arroyo’s intentions were questioned regarding her recent announcement that she would ask Congress to enact a "general amnesty" bill that would effectively pardon all rebels and political prisoners who fought the government, as well as individuals and groups that figured in "political clashes" with her administration.

The declaration was viewed as part of the administration’s ploy to woo Estrada’s followers to support the President’s candidacy in the May elections.

Mrs. Arroyo took over the presidency following the ouster of Estrada in January 2001. She is seeking a full six-year term in the May polls.

In an interview with ANC’s "On Line" program, Defensor said "there is no situation where the President can give pardon," noting that the cases against Estrada and even the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his family are pending in court.

"In the case of former president Estrada, I’ll be the one to say that he is not asking for amnesty and we are not in the mood to give any accommodation. Estrada himself has said he wants to go through the judicial process," Defensor said.

He, however, expressed confidence that Mrs. Arroyo and Estrada will eventually work hand in hand for the nation’s healing.

"I am very, very confident that in the end you would see, if the President is elected in 2004, President Estrada helping the country. I am very positive we would see that picture in the future where the former president and President Arroyo would be working together to bring about change, reform and development to the country," Defensor said.

He also disclosed that Mrs. Arroyo is not likely to budge from her decision to seek the enactment of a "general amnesty" bill as its thrust is more for "reconciliation."

"Reconciliation is what we want to do. Whether the amnesty would be subjected to criticisms or backlash from other sectors, the President has been very clear that it is the direction that we want," Defensor said.

The general amnesty, he explained, is targeted towards coup plotters. "But it’s a different reconciliation process altogether when you speak of the Marcoses or the Estrada camp," he said, noting that it was only during the Arroyo administration that a court decision on the Marcos cases has been handed down.

Defensor was referring to the Supreme Court’s final ruling in November that the Marcoses’ $683-million in Swiss bank deposits were ill-gotten and therefore belonged to the government.

"The (Marcos) cases have been talked about for the longest time and it was only during the Arroyo administration that a resolution on the cases has come out. It is being appealed but there was a decision," Defensor said.

"I’ve always said that anything we do in governance will always have a political perspective or people would think it is being done because of politics. But we are just doing our job and do what we have to do for reconciliation," he added.