EDITORIAL - The right to hallucinate

There’s a pending case questioning the legitimacy of the Arroyo administration. But even Joseph Estrada’s own lawyer has publicly conceded that the disgraced president’s return to Malacañang is unlikely. Estrada still wears the seal of the Office of the President on his trademark wrist band, but Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has the seal hanging in her office. Members of the Presidential Security Group display the seal on every podium where she speaks. The international community has recognized her government, and she is preparing for a possible state visit to the United States this June.

For a while Estrada agreed with his former aides that it was no longer possible for him to regain power. Even if he won his case with the Supreme Court, he said, he would not try to get back the presidency. He would even support President Arroyo, he said, if she proved to be a good Chief Executive.

Most quarters saw Estrada’s petition with the Supreme Court as a mere ploy to enjoy immunity from prosecution, though there’s no rule that says a president – sitting or on leave or incapacitated – is immune from criminal charges. The other day, Estrada sang a different tune. Campaigning for his wife and other opposition candidates in Zamboanga City, he vowed to return to Malacañang. He also warned that those responsible for kicking him out "will suffer the consequences" upon his return to power.

Either Estrada had imbibed too much expensive red wine or he had eaten contaminated beef from Britain. Or else he knows something about his case that will surprise his critics come March 13, the day 13 justices of the Supreme Court are set to rule on his petition to declare him president and his successor merely an acting chief executive.

Estrada’s flight to Zamboanga on a light plane reportedly stirred up Malacañang, where officials feared he might defy a travel ban and leave the Philippines. His latest pronouncement, however, should not worry Malacañang. With no more spurious land titles to distribute, without bags of groceries to dole out, Joseph Estrada probably just needed a major come-on to rally his supporters in Zamboanga. Even a disgraced president, ousted by people power, has a right to hallucinate.