"If Gloria (Arroyo) will not allow the impeachment to continue, her probity will always be in question. So I suggest she should submit herself to the impeachment proceedings like I did," he said in a telephone interview with The STAR, recalling how he respected the independence of Congress when he was facing impeachment.
Estrada added that the only regret he had was that "the impeachment hearing was aborted and I was unconstitutionally removed and convicted in the streets."
The military-backed popular revolt that ousted Estrada, usually referred to as EDSA II, was triggered when the impeachment process was cut short by the walkout by private prosecutors and the House of Representatives prosecution panel after the Senate, convened as an impeachment court, voted against opening an envelope that reportedly contained evidence against Estrada.
A few months after his ouster in January 2001, Estrada was charged with plunder and has been placed under detention while undergoing trial at the Sandiganbayan. He noted with concern the apparent efforts by pro-administration officials to kill the impeachment process in Congress. He called on leaders and members of Congress to carry out their sworn duty to ensure that the impeachment proceedings against Mrs. Arroyo follow the rule of law.
Estrada, in an official statement issued yesterday from his estate in Tanay, Rizal, gave this piece of unsolicited advice to Mrs. Arroyo, who was then his vice president and constitutional successor: "Surveys have shown that a majority of our people want Mrs. Arroyo out of Malacañang, but they are willing to give the impeachment process a chance," he said.
"It would be an unforgivable act of hypocrisy and betrayal on the part of her allies in the legislature to turn a deaf ear to the people’s voice when this is the very essence of democracy. Vox populi, vox Dei (The voice of the people is the voice of God)," Estrada added.
He also lauded yesterday his former foes from the EDSA II revolt, led by former President Corazon Aquino, for joining the Bukluran Para sa Katotohanan (Coalition for the Truth) to press anew for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation and help rally support for congressmen to junk the decision of the House of Representatives justice committee dismissing all three impeachment complaints against her.
Aquino "is now siding with me in the search for truth. The truth shall set us all free. The truth shall set me free," Estrada told The STAR.
He said he has forgiven all his EDSA II foes, which "goes to show Filipinos will fight for the truth regardless of their partisan beliefs and party affiliations. We can unite for truth."
In his appeal to members of Congress, Estrada, who is the acknowledged leader of the opposition despite his detention, paraphrased the famous words of the late Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon: "My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins."
"My loyalty to my pocket ends when my loyalty to the truth begins," was Estrada’s amended appeal to the conscience of the lawmakers.
He also called on all members of Congress, especially members of the United Opposition and the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, "to resist the administration’s overtures to cover up the truth."
Estrada reminded them that they are "first and foremost, representatives of the people. It is their voice which you must heed, and your conscience which must be your guide." — With Delon Porcalla