Erap rushed to hospital

Ousted President Joseph Estrada was rushed yesterday to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in Greenhills, San Juan after complaining of severe pain in his knees.

A private helicopter flew Estrada from his sprawling resthouse in Tanay, Rizal to a helipad in San Juan, where an ambulance was waiting to take him to Cardinal Santos.

Upon landing, Estrada was whisked to the hospital’s emergency room where his son, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, was waiting, along with his doctor, son-in-law Beaver Lopez, former senator Ernesto Maceda, and Sandiganbayan sheriff Edgardo Urieta.

The Sandiganbayan special division, headed by Presiding Justice Teresita Leonardo de Guzman, had granted Estrada’s request for a medical checkup on the representation of Jose Flaminiano, one of his lawyers.

"We will allow him today (to undergo a medical checkup), subject to the same conditions," she told defense lawyers and government prosecutors led by Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio, who acceded to the request.

Jay Flaminiano, another Estrada lawyer, said police were ready to move Estrada from his 15-hectare resthouse in Tanay, Rizal upon order of the special division.

"He cannot travel by land, your honors," he told the special division justices. "He has been complaining of severe pain."

Last July 1, Estrada’s police and military escorts were ready to move the former president on order of the court, but the move was postponed because no helicopters were available, he added.

Earlier, retired fiscal Flaminiano said Estrada should have undergone a medical checkup last March upon the recommendation of Dr. Lorenzo Hocson.

In mid-January, Estrada was airlifted from his resthouse to the Cardinal Santos for a medical checkup, where he stayed for four days and was found to be suffering from pneumonia.