Joseph "Erap" Estrada Answers Plunder Conviction & Food Security Issues Head-On

Excerpts of the GMA-7 November 2009 Presidential forum (Tagalog parts translated into English)

PRETTY smart and very straightforward answers from former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada. Herein, he confronts the perpetually hot issue of his Plunder conviction with an un-trapo-like honesty. The comebacking politician also defends his performance during his unfinished first term with regards food security.


On his claim of innocence re plunder/theft of government money:

Estrada: Nothing was proven. Nothing was proved with regards [the issue] of my supposed theft of government money, not a single centavo... My conviction pertains to jueteng. That jueteng [money] ....was deposited in the Muslim Youth Foundation, of which I was not a beneficiary. Its Board of Trustees were ...UP professors. So that was clean.


They needed to convict me. That is why they created  that court to convict me. That special court--the first time a special court was created. And that court was created to convict me.  In fact, when I was convicted, two [Sandiganbayan] justices were immediately promoted to the Supreme Court.


So that was my only conviction. And that I supposedly received commission from one corporation, the BW. But the [one who stood as] witness said I wasn't given the money, it was given to Jaime Dichavez, not to me.


Assuming... that the jueteng and the commission to me, they are called private money, ... not goverment money. That's the two counts I was convicted [for]. Those citing the 7171, re government money--none, I'm cleared.


So [if that were true], I wouldn't have the courage to face the Filipino people and run [for president] again if I did steal, if I were guilty.


Look at the conviction, just the two counts. But with regards graft and corruption, every contract I approved was scrutinized. A Task Force was established by the Department of Justice consisting of six lawyers...who scrutinized everything ... but they didn't see any contract tainted with anomaly.  If there were even just one [anomaly] seen, it would have made headlines....

On poverty level during his first term:

Erap: In 1997, just please recall that there was an Asian Economic Crisis.... when i assumed office, our agricultural growth rate was zero-zero. I was able to raise that [agri growth rate level] to 6.6%. Such is documented. And inflation rate was 12%, I reduced it by 3.0%.


 And our GNP, I was able to increase it up to 3.6%. This is documented, professor. You can check it with the Department of Finance.


So what are you claiming that.. .... and I concentrated on food security. Re agriculture, from 0-0 growth, raised to 6.6 [percent].


[My administration] just came from the Asian crisis. And I was able to turn the tide. We were able to overcome the [effects of] the Asian crisis. That is on record, Prof. Monsod if you can go out of your way to find out from the Department of Finance.

On Bro. Eddie Villanueva's question re dealing with the "perpetrators of extrajudicial killings and of massive gargantuan, unabated corruption":

Erap: There should be intense investigation and after the...[conclusion] of the investigation, there should be...  "certainty of punishment," which is what's important. There are many people in government that escape prosecution because their cases are [allowed to be] fixed... even extrajudicial killings....

On the part of GMA-7, including Mel Tiangco, the TV station seemed much more civil and less bias here than during the interview they conducted right after Estrada's announcement to seek the presidency once more time.  Said issue was touched on in an earlier Sobriety for the Philippines article:

         Erap's renewed bid for the Presidency: Can he overcome the media bias? 


Also available at: BLOG by Taga-Ilog News

Filipinos Welcome Estrada Pardon, Maintain Reservations About Arroyo

Majority of Filipinos welcomed the long-awaited release of ex-President Joseph Estrada following the clemency extended to the former leader accused of politically motivated trumped-up charges. Estrada was convicted of Plunder and racketing charges by a 'kangaroo' court division of an Anti-Graft body specially created to try the former President following the conspiracy-led uprising unseated him in 2001.



The pardon was given by current President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo nearly after the six-year trial ended in a guilty verdict during a heavily-censored promulgation in September 2007. During the media coverage of the promulgation, the authorities made sure that the public would not see the dramatic moment when Estrada, who remains heavily popular with the Filipinos masses, received the "guilty" verdict.

Never Guilty

Earlier, a nationwide survey showed that an overwhelming majority of Filipinos believe Estrada is innocent of the Plunder charges and that they expected him to be released. The same survey conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) also revealed the sentiment of the Filipinos that in case he be declared guilty, Estrada should be pardoned. According to the survey 62% of Filipinos do not believe "Erap" Estrada enriched himself nor committed corruption while he was President; a total of 84% think he should be pardoned if convicted. The SWS, the most active social survey institute in the country, conducted the survey just before the promulgation of the Sandiganbayan decision declaring Estrada guilty of the charges.

Supporters of the former Philippine leader are delighted to see him free again but have reservations about the nature of the pardon and the administration of Arroyo. Estrada and the opposition have long maintained the illegitimacy of Arroyo's administration after the constitutionally questionable decision by the Supreme Court that declared the position of President vacant and Arroyo as the successor. In 2004, Macapagal-Arroyo 'won' in the presidential elections heavily tainted with allegations of electoral fraud. In legal terms, Estrada's acceptance of the executive clemency connotes recognition of the authority of Arroyo. According to Estrada's followers, they want him free but still consider Arroyo's administration as illegitimate.

Filipinos generally believe that Estrada, a former actor who rose from being a mayor, senator and Vice-President before becoming President with the highest plurality vote in Philippine history, is not guilty of any of the charges. Before his arrest and detention, Estrada declined two offers made by the administration of Macapagal-Arroyo for him to live in voluntary exile in exchange for waiving criminal prosecution.

Estrada won as the Philippine's 13th President by a landslide election in 1998 but was unable to finish term after a corrupt governor accused him of pocketing jueteng kickbacks. The accusations mothballed into the so-called EDSA II rebellion backed by the Army's chief-of-staff. Majority of Filipinos believe that Estrada's predecessor, Fidel Ramos and then Vice-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, led the conspiracy that used the kickback issue as a propaganda ploy to bring Estrada into public disfavor.

Objective political analysts suspect that Ramos sought to depose Estrada to avoid prosecution for the scandalous deals his administration entered into. Ramos was named in several multi-million dollar corruption exposes during his term, including the infamous Clark Centennial Exposition project and the PEA-AMARI Manila Bay Reclamation deal, dubbed to be the "grandmother of all scams." Estrada, who assumed office with bankrupt national treasury funds, had threatened to investigate Ramos' complicity in the scams.

The 2001 EDSA II rebellion against the defamed former President acquired the backing of certain business leaders who were disadvantaged by Estrada's pro-poor policies. The Catholic Church led by the powerful Jaime Cardinal Sin also played a part in Estrada's unseating. The politically meddling Cardinal Sin saw a Catholic ally in the successor, Macapagal Arroyo. Despite numerous and persistent allegations of corruption and electoral fraud against the new administration, the Catholic Church continued to support Arroyo, who indeed proved to be a faithful supporter of the Church's positions on various social issues including family planning and the death penalty.

Link to the SWS survey September 2-5, 2007 Social Weather Survey: Majority expected Erap to be acquitted: http://www.sws.org.ph/pr070912.htm.

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Laughable Philippine SC Decision on "Live Coverage" of Erap Verdict

SEPTEMBER 12, 2007 marked a black-letter day for the real state of justice and democracy in the Philippines. The media coverage of the promulgation on the Plunder case of former Philippine President Joseph “Erap” Estrada was effectively disallowed by the Supreme Court ruling that ridiculously limited the view of the TV camera to the bench proceedings and ensured that no view of the defendant was shown to the public

The much-awaited verdict on the Plunder case of Estrada was read in the office of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan amidst tight security and practically nil "live" media coverage. Ruling on an appeal, the Supreme Court of the Philippines had earlier granted the request of the media organization Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) under ridiculously restrictive conditions. In a decision that plays lip service to "freedom of the press," the highest court in the land—the same body that defended the biased presence of its chief justice in the EDSA 2 revolution, which toppled President Estrada in 2001, as akin to attending a "party"—ruled that the coverage of the Erap verdict be restricted to the bench reading of the judgment and that the sole television camera be operated by the court's media office.



The ruling was a hopelessly and undemocratically ridiculous instance of the suppression of the freedom of the press and information of the Filipinos. The coverage of the court proceedings without a shot of the former Philippine President's countenance during the passing of the verdict practically meant no coverage at all. Ano naman ang pakialam ng mga Pilipino sa mga mukha ng kangaroong mahistrado at sa tagabasa ng desisyon? Bakit tila inutil o nabubusalan ang media kapag ang panig o karapatan na ni Erap at oposisyon ang dapat marinig?

With this brazenly censoring decision, the Supreme Court ruled to deny the Filipino people the right to witness, via telecast, the unfolding of a most important moment in the country's history. Why the Joseph Estrada impeachment and the ensuing mutinous EDSA 2 were covered in sensational full detail, while the stark opposite applied to the Estrada Plunder case smacked of a devious political machination by current President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.



The unmistakable inference to draw from this is that an ingloriously beholden Philippine Supreme Court connived with the administration in order to preclude the anticipated public unfolding of a dramatic "guilty" verdict scenario, and thus, try to prevent a congruence of sympathies for Estrada. As if indeed a piece in a grand scheme, the anti-graft court actually passed a “guilty” verdict on Estrada for the count of Plunder. Not surprisingly, the former President’s family already expected the decision, saying a few hours beforehand that they feared for a “political decision” of conviction for Estrada.

Sober-thinking, patriotic Filipinos can only sigh in frustration, and hope for the time when all the injustice, charade of presidential "legitimacy" amidst national electoral fraud, degenerate leadership, unparalleled corruption and unprecedented national economic woes will ever end. Until the time the Filipinos muster its strengths, uphold its virtues and assert political sanity in order to take the necessary step of rectifying the grievous blunder of Edsa 2-cum-Arrobo usurpation of Malacanang, the pathetic nation called the Philippines is unlikely to see the good end of a hellish rule for some time.

Ahhhh, isn't the Philippines doomed??? If only the Filipinos can invoke the spirit of the late father of Arroyo, the righteous former President Diosdado Macapagal, and implore him to now take his petite daughter along and share with her the eternal peace of life on the other side....

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