‘Erap can vote at Capinpin’

Where should ousted President Joseph Estrada vote on May 10?

Estrada’s court-appointed lawyers said he must cast his ballot at the polling precinct at Xavier School in San Juan, where he is a registered voter.

However, government prosecutors insist Estrada should vote in his detention quarters at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.

Deputy Special Prosecutor Robert Kallos told reporters yesterday the government will oppose any move to allow Estrada to vote in San Juan because of the "security risks" involved.

"Erap was transferred to Camp Capinpin precisely for security reasons," he said. "Transporting him from Tanay would be dangerous and very risky."

The prosecution panel would make their position known in the May 3 comment they will file at the Sandiganbayan, he added.

Kallos said they will ask the special division to order the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to "make arrangements" for Estrada to vote in his detention quarters, just like in the 2001 elections.

Prosecutors do not want to deprive Estrada of his right to vote, but they are worried about his security as a former president whenever he makes the long trip from Tanay to San Juan, Kallos added.

Defense lawyers have asked the special division to give Estrada "at least 36 hours" to travel from Tanay to San Juan on May 10 to vote and spend the night at his mother’s home on Kennedy street in Greenhills.

During the 2001 elections, Estrada and his son, Jinggoy, a former mayor of San Juan, were allowed by the Sandiganbayan to vote in their detention quarters at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.

A team of election officers was sent by the Comelec to the VMMC to assist them in casting their ballots.

Meanwhile, Estrada might be allowed to visit his mother, Mary Marcelo-Ejercito, when she celebrates her 99th birthday at her Greenhills home on Sunday.

Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio told the special division he has no objection to Estrada visiting his mother on her birthday. — Delon Porcalla