So that’s why Erap wants trial closed - GOTCHA by Jarius Bondoc

When Ramon Revilla asked from left field how much Jun Yasay bribed him to expose Joseph Estrada’s coercive phone call, Emie Perez could have shot back, "Your honor, I’m not a senator." But that’s not him. An upright journalist who’s always keen to do and be good, Emie instead nudged Revilla about the virtue of living with one’s means.

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Hundred percent of televiewers who follow Estrada’s impeachment trial tell pollsters they believe he’s guilty. It’s only halfway through. Yet the paper trail and witnesses’ testimonies already convinced them that he amassed P500 million from jueteng protection and tax theft. If people think they’ve seen everything they’re in for bigger shockers in the most gripping telenovela to hit town. Prosecutors have intimated a P1.2-billion savings account under the alias Jose Velarde from which the P500 million came. That’s just a trailer. Forthcoming is an episode on – brace yourself – P20 billion stashed in five other bank accounts under alias Kevin Garcia.

Last week’s testimonies of Ruben Almadro, Nonoy Yulo, Jun Yasay and Ed Espiritu will lead to that P20-billion conclusion in the Senate court. The four swore that Estrada not only is crony Dante Tan’s silent partner in BW Resources, but also took kickbacks from SSS and GSIS funds used to acquire PLDT and PCIBank, plus protection money from smugglers. Prosecutors will present 40 more witnesses to prove bribery and betrayal of public trust. Among them are men and women who were instructed to withdraw and deliver P50 million a day to North Greenhills in San Juan only last December.

No wonder Estrada’s defense lawyers are trying to force this early a conclusion of the trial. No wonder his impeachment spokesman is crying that prosecutors are not building a case but merely grandstanding. They want a verdict by Feb. 12, the start of the congressional election campaign but a date that has nothing to do whatever with impeachment charges. They’re raising all sorts of technicalities to stop more evidence from being presented. For they know that 40 more witnesses to a P20-billion hoard will make it difficult for pro-Estrada senator-judges to vote for acquittal. More so since part of the loot came not from common smugglers of chicken legs or sugar, but of the greatest scourge of all – drugs.

Estrada’s legal handlers would rather go with the present surveys. Sure, 100 percent of trial viewers believe he’s guilty. But that’s only half of the story. Seventy-six percent also think he’ll be acquitted just the same, what with his lawyers’ legal tricks and the senators’ personal loyalty to him. That the 100 percent might rise in rage with acquittal is of no consequence to lawyers or senators. That’s for others to handle. Estrada’s political strategists delude themselves with the belief that televiewers come from the wavering middle and upper classes. Professionals and businessmen won’t march in another people power uprising, but in the slim chance that they do, Malacañang will simply call in select troops to butcher them.

That’s why this early Estrada’s men are pooh-poohing talks of an EDSA Revolt-Part 2. Senator-judge Gringo Honasan, for one, says Cardinal Jaime Sin’s offer to lead it is doomed to fail because the military ingredient will not be there. Yet Honasan’s slip showed to betray uncertainty. He first claimed that, unless he failed to detect something beneath the surface, the officers’ corp is not interested in marching out of the barracks. The next moment, he said he had a recent talk with disgruntled officers.

But the fight for now is still in Estrada’s chosen battlefield – the impeachment court where he controls the numbers, not in the streets where anything can happen. And so his lawyers will continue to block the presentation of more witnesses and evidence. At the same time, still other handlers will try to scare or bribe new witnesses against testifying, the way they tried their tricks on Espiritu, Yasay, Yulo, Almadro and many others before them.

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INTERACTION. J. Diaz, aol.com: Yes, RP is hopeless (Gotcha, 13 Jan. 2001). Reform will never come because Filipinos have a very short memory and GMA is promising no purge in Erap’s Cabinet in case she takes over.

Lorenzo Raule, hotmail.com: In rallying the masa against the rich who allegedly want his ouster, Erap is rubbing salt on a gaping social wound. He can’t reform the system that way.

Teresita S. Ladanga, access.net: I don’t think the Opposition has lost the upper hand or that GMA has been sidelined (Gotcha, 10 Jan. 2001). We’re just preoccupied with the trial – as an outlet for our rage at Erap.

Mario E. Valderrama, pacific.net: I hope I’m proved wrong, but I believe the game’s over and the Opposition has lost. The optimum situation favorable to Erap is already in place. A power group is ascendant. Expect realignments.

Vic Litan, omantel.net: I appeal to our generals not to go to war just to save a hoodlum in Malacañang (Gotcha, 8 Jan. 2001).

Paul Dalde, Texas: Witnesses in the impeachment trial are sworn to tell the whole truth. But as they are about to say it, Erap’s lawyers employ all tricks to prevent them from doing so.

Joe Dapo, Bacolod: Didn’t Miriam once boast that she eats death threats for breakfast (Gotcha, Jan. 2001). Yet she can’t take provocative stares?

Jack Santos, yahoo.com: If the authorities are serious about security in these troubled times, how come there’s no guard at MRT entrance-exit at EDSA Central station (Gotcha, 3 Jan. 2001)?

Armie Jean Huenda Perez, Balintawak, Caloocan: My father drove me to the Manila International Airport last Jan. 3 to send off my husband. Guard W.B. Binabece of Lanting Security kept yelling at him to move the car, yet allowed a policeman in a van to park on the driveway. Dad asked where the parking lot was, and the guard snarled: "Hah, nakarating ka sa NAIA, pero hindi mo alam kung saan ang parking lot?" Minutes later, another guard Castor yelled at departing passengers and those sending them off to move to the west wing, there to find out that only passengers are allowed and companions must go downstairs. Is this how they treat departing OFWs?

Thank you, too, Joey Catama, Pepe Pe, Jacob Solano, Jay Entruda, Bing Flores, Ma. Cristina Morelos, Rodel D. Macalino, Dexter Meniola, Vi Massart, Oscar Venturina, C. Isidro, Benjamin F. Morales, Tony Reyes, Gerry Kaimo, Vic Contreras, E.C. Ibazeta, Patrick Michael Balo, Cesar C. Francisco, Camilo Bawagan, Jeannette Santos, W. Ison, Ricky Yap, Aida Aguas, Hanzel Leano, J. Mer, Willie Vicedo, Ched Arzadon, Alfredo J. Ganapin, Thaddeus Batalla Rosario, Teresita C. Castro, Alex Sinson.

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