It’s just one of those Estrada jokes — solon

He must be joking.

This was the reaction yesterday of administration congressmen to Joseph Estrada’s insistence that he is still president of the Republic.

"It’s just one of those Erap jokes," said Isabela Rep. Heherson Alvarez, secretary general of the ruling Lakas party.

Alvarez said the deposed leader "is beating a dead horse because the issue has already been resolved both at EDSA by the people and in the courts."

"The people have spoken. They have made a decision that was overwhelmingly affirmed by members of the Supreme Court," he added.

Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri (Lakas, Bukidnon) said Estrada must be dreaming.

"He should wake up to the reality that he is an ex-president and that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is the President," he said.

He said the Arroyo administration should speed up the filing of cases against the deposed leader and prosecute him forthwith so that his huge bank accounts and other assets can be frozen.

Once frozen, these cannot be used to destabilize the government, Zubiri added.

The quicker we do this, the better for our nation, he stressed.

Another Lakas congressman, Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. of Camarines Sur, surmised that Estrada insists on laying claim to the presidency so he could invoke immunity from criminal prosecution.

Addressing himself to the fallen leader, Andaya said. "Let’s be practical about things. You are no longer the president, and GMA is the sitting President."

Former Speaker Manuel Villar Jr. said for the sake of the economy, Estrada should now forget the presidency.

"Since his ouster, the economy has started to slowly recover. Businessmen are supportive of the (Arroyo) government and business is upbeat about growth. Even foreign investors and international lending agencies are taking a positive attitude toward the new leadership," Villar said.

Rep. Michael Defensor (LP, Quezon City) said that Estrada, by insisting on his claim to the highest office in the land, could really be a destabilizing factor to the Arroyo administration.

"He claims he abandoned Malacañang to avoid violence and bloodshed. It is also in that light that we are appealing to him to stop this ridiculous claim that he is still president because this could fuel violence and bloodshed," he said.

Rep. Ernesto Herrera (Lakas, Bohol) said Estrada must still be dazed two weeks after his ouster.

"He refuses to accept the reality that the people have spoken, he is no longer president, and the mandate of President Arroyo is both indubitably constitutional and popular," he said.

He warned Estrada against mounting his version of people power.

"I tell him, go ahead. And we will call on the same Edsa forces to show their indignation once again. This time, we will make Polk street (in Greenhills, San Juan, where Estrada is residing) the center of our rallies so he could see for himself, and perhaps by then, he would be able to accept his fate," he said.

Herrera, who once belonged to Estrada’s ruling coalition, also suggested that the former president, instead of asserting his claim to the presidency, should explain to the people, particularly the poor, how he had amassed billions of pesos in less than three years in office.
Congressmen and lawyers who prosecuted the former president in his impeachment trial have claimed he had accumulated as much as P15 billion in bank accounts, excluding dollar deposits and mansions for his many mistresses.