Erap: Conspiracy behind my ouster

Ousted President Joseph Estrada yesterday accused politicians, generals and the Roman Catholic bishops of conspiring to depose him in a "plain and simple power grab."

Testifying at the resumption of his corruption trial at the Sandiganbayan, Estrada, 69, insisted that he had been framed and that the plunder case against him had been manufactured by his political opponents.

He dismissed as politically motivated the charges in the five-year-old trial that he had amassed about P4 billion from illegal gambling payoffs, tax kickbacks and commissions during his aborted presidency, as well as a perjury charge for allegedly underreporting his assets in 1999.

"It’s very clear that those charges are baseless, fabricated," he told reporters. "Those who conspired... only filed those charges to justify their unconstitutional and illegal acts."

He claimed he rejected a deal to go into exile in exchange for immunity.

"If I am guilty, I could have accepted it and run away. I wanted to clear my name before the people and the court. I am hoping and I am praying that I will be given justice by this court," Estrada said.

Under direct examination by defense lawyer Jose Flaminiano, Estrada told the anti-graft court that a month after he was ousted in January 2001 amid massive military-backed street protests, then justice secretary Hernando Perez offered to let him submit a letter of resignation and leave for a country of his choice with no charges filed against him.

"I vehemently refused. I told him, ‘You will make a fugitive out of me? I will never agree, whatever you do to me, even if you put me in jail,’" Estrada said.

Seeking to portray himself as the victim of greedy politicians, Estrada alleged that "powerful and influential people" conspired to oust him "because these people never wanted me to become an elected president."

He said members of society’s elite, some generals, former President Fidel Ramos — Estrada’s predecessor — and late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin and some bishops "could not accept" his overwhelming poll victory in 1998.

He also accused the wealthy Ayala and Lopez families, who run public water services, of joining the conspiracy because he rejected their request to increase rates.

"If I had approved that, the masses would have been affected," he said.

Estrada pointed out that the late Supreme Court Justice Cecilia Muñoz-Palma had once lamented that the Constitution suffered when Estrada’s unprecedented impeachment trial ended in a farce and resulted in a popular uprising that toppled him.

"She said the rule of law was set aside and the rule of force prevailed," he said.

Estrada said Sin, the country’s moral icon who led the 1986 ouster of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, turned against him after Estrada rejected his appeal to block a 1999 military training agreement with the United States and call a ceasefire with Muslim rebels.

He accused his successor, President Arroyo, of "a plain and simple power grab," and insisted he was still the president when Mrs. Arroyo, then the vice president, took her oath of office.

"I still believe that I have immunity from prosecution," said Estrada, who still wears a white wristband with the presidential seal.

Quoting a magazine interview with Mrs. Arroyo’s husband after his January 2001 ouster, Estrada said Jose Miguel Arroyo "admitted they were ready to strike the first blow against my administration and he was willing to shed blood just to see to it that his wife assumes office as president."

In a March 2001 interview with the magazine Graphic, First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo was describing the tense standoff in the streets amid calls for Estrada’s ouster and said anti-Estrada forces were in place "with orders to shoot" at Estrada loyalists. The ouster was bloodless.

The trial has adjourned until next Wednesday.

Special State Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio said they are ready to cross-examine Estrada next week when the defense concludes its direct examination.

Estrada was elected by a landslide in 1998, but accusations of graft and corruption hounded his presidency.

An impeachment trial against him was aborted in January 2001, and he was then forced out of office by a military-backed popular uprising.

But Estrada has always maintained his innocence and claimed that he was toppled by a conspiracy among the Catholic Church, high-ranking officers in the military and the wealthy elite.

Last week, Estrada denied charges that he laundered millions of pesos in a secret bank account under the fictitious name "Jose Velarde" but admitted that he signed the bank documents.

Estrada maintained that his friend Jose Dichaves owned the account. — With AP