DEPOSED LEADER ESTRADA READY TO TESTIFY, CONFIDENT OF ACQUITTAL
MANILA, March 21, 2006 (STAR) (AP) Ousted President Joseph Estrada said he will simply tell the truth when he testifies Wednesday in his five-year-old trial to fight corruption charges that robbed him of power and consigned him to what he calls a depressing life.Estrada, an action film star detained after being deposed by a "people power" revolt in 2001, is scheduled to be the 79th defense witness at a special anti-graft court Wednesday. He is on trial on the capital charge of plundering the coffers of the country he once promised to deliver from crushing poverty.
Estrada, 68, said he will wear a native Barong shirt and speak in Tagalog when he testifies to symbolize his love for his country.
"There will be nothing extraordinary in my testimony because I only have to tell the truth," Estrada told The Associated Press by telephone Tuesday.
"I'm confident that history will vindicate me from these charges by a conspiracy of the elite, church leaders and thieving politicians," he said.
Metropolitan Manila police chief Vidal Querol said about 1,000 riot police will provide security amid a planned protest by impoverished pro-Estrada followers at the Sandiganbayan court _ reflecting continuing government concern over the trial's politically charged nature.
Estrada, through his lawyers, asked the court to allow live TV coverage of his testimony, but the request was turned down.
Raymund Fortun, one of Estrada's lawyers, told foreign correspondents Tuesday that the defense would rest its case after Estrada's testimony. He said he expected the court to issue a verdict in September or October.
Prosecutors say the former president committed plunder _ a non-bailable offense punishable by a maximum penalty of death by lethal injection _ by amassing about 4 billion pesos (US$77 million) in illegal gambling payoffs, tax kickbacks and commissions stashed in secret bank accounts.
He also faces a minor charge of perjury for allegedly underreporting his assets in 1999.
Estrada was forced to step down amid massive anti-corruption protests in January 2001 that were partly led by then-Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who completed the remainder of Estrada's six-year term and then won the 2004 election.
Estrada, a college dropout, parlayed his massive movie popularity _ he won the local version of the Oscars five times _ into a springboard to the presidency. But even some of his followers say he squandered his fame and power by bringing his carefree lifestyle into office.
Estrada has acknowledged his foibles but denied any wrongdoing.
The charges and his five years of detention have created a "very depressing life," Estrada said, adding that acquittal would correct all the wrongs heaped on him.
"This is a mistake and this should be corrected," he said.
Estrada says 'no deal' on eve of court testimony 03/21 2:48:55 PM
MANILA (AFP) - Ousted president Joseph Estrada has rejected a reconciliation bid from the woman who replaced him, current leader Gloria Arroyo, before he testifies in court Wednesday, a spokesman said.
Estrada, a former film star accused of amassing a personal fortune of 80 million dollars while in office, could be jailed for life or executed if convicted on corruption charges.
Finally taking the stand in his ongoing trial, Estrada -- who remains the de facto head of the nation's political opposition -- could stir up trouble for the embattled Arroyo, who already faced down an one impeachment bid last year.
"He wants no reconciliation while the case is pending," Estrada spokesman Didagen Dilangalen said.
He is "emotionally, psychologically, and physically prepared to testify in his behalf (Wednesday). He is dying to testify. He is in a very good frame of mind," the spokesman said.
Estrada has repeatedly insisted that he is innocent and that he was illegally toppled by "mob rule" in 2001, when a military-backed popular revolt pushed him from office and installed Arroyo.
Arroyo, then the vice president, finished the last three years of his term and then won the presidential election in 2004.
But she has faced allegations that she rigged the vote after an audiotape appeared to present her speaking to an election official before the ballots were counted. She said she was wrong to make the call but denied wrong-doing.
Arroyo has since survived two alleged coup attempts, and last month put the country under a week-long state of national emergency to quash what she claimed was a conspiracy by communist insurgents and military rebels to oust her.
Estrada has always contended that Arroyo usurped power because he never formally resigned, and he could use his time on the witness stand to further inflame anti-Arroyo sentiment.
It was not immediately known what Estrada might specifically say that could cause Arroyo further political damage, but Arroyo's administration has been relatively lenient on him during his time in detention.
He was transferred from a military hospital to house arrest at a sprawling vacation home, and he has been allowed medical furloughs and parties at his home.
"We feel that we would have the greatest impact in the minds and hearts of the justices if we present the accused himself, president Joseph Estrada, as our last witness," his lawyer Raymond Fortun said without elaborating.
Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye, when asked Monday whether there could be a compromise deal with Estrada, said the government did not want to preempt the work of the courts.
Estrada is alleged to have piled up the vast fortune from funds stolen from tobacco excise taxes, the illegal purchase of stocks and from a protection racket on an illegal numbers game.
Estrada says U.S. authorities bugged his phone talks with former FBI analyst 03/21 3:50:03 PM STAR
MANILA (AP) - Ousted President Joseph Estrada said Tuesday he was notified by an American court that U.S. authorities bugged his telephone conversations with a former FBI analyst who was charged with illegally revealing U.S. government secrets.
Estrada has previously acknowledged receiving American government assessments of Philippine political events from Leandro Aragoncillo, who has been accused of illegally downloading confidential U.S. information and passing them to other people while working as an FBI intelligence analyst.
Estrada told The Associated Press he received a notice from a New Jersey court, which informed him that some of his telephone conversations with Aragoncillo were wiretapped by U.S. authorities.
The notice indicated that the wiretapping, done in the course of investigating Aragoncillo, was authorized by the New Jersey court, Estrada said.
Estrada said there was no indication that he was being investigated by U.S. authorities.
"The notice said that my telephone calls with Aragoncillo were wiretapped," Estrada told The AP in a telephone interview. "The wiretapping was authorized by the court."
Aragoncillo, a 21-year Marine veteran who became an FBI intelligence analyst in 2004, was arrested in the U.S. last year. He has been charged with conspiring to reveal government secrets, acting as a foreign agent and improperly using FBI computers. Those charges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years.
He has not been charged with espionage, which carries a maximum penalty of capital punishment.
SMALL-TOWN LOTTERY REVIVED UNDER THE PCSO PHILIPPINE STAR March 21, 2006
By Rhodina Villanueva - The government announced yesterday the revival of the small-town lottery under the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
The lottery is seen as a replacement for jueteng, a popular but illegal numbers game that critics say was a major source of corruption.
Curiously, a former Malacañang staffer, Michaelangelo Zuce, who accused President Arroyo last year of bribing election officials in exchange for helping her win the 2004 presidential election, will be a member of a team that will monitor the conduct of the small-town lottery.
Malacañang officials said they had no knowledge of Zuce’s return to the Arroyo administration.
The small-town lottery (STL) was introduced during the administration of former President Corazon Aquino as an alternative to jueteng but did not last against the illegal numbers game’s huge popularity.
Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn, who headed the defunct National Anti-Jueteng Task Force, proposed the reintroduction of the small-town lottery to curb jueteng.
Hagedorn also proposed that a team be formed to monitor the small-town lottery to ensure it is implemented properly. He said this was crucial to its success as a replacement for jueteng.
Other members of the team are police official Wally Sembrano and Tony Reyes, a member of the anti-jueteng task force.
Hagedorn proposed the revival of the small-town lottery in his exit report last September. The lottery is reportedly now being pilot-tested in Quezon province, Quezon City and Angeles City in Pampanga.
The game’s mechanics are said to be as simple and bettor-friendly as jueteng, and draws must be transparent to prevent cheating.
"It should allow the local governments to operate the game under contract with and supervision by the PCSO, and be made accountable for the game’s profitability," Hagedorn said.
The PCSO was tight-lipped about the small-town lottery, deferring all comment to Hagedorn.
PCSO chairman Sergio Valencia said they have an agreement that Hagedorn would be the designated spokesman. "STL is a lottery and it falls under our mandate… but the spokesperson on this is Mayor Hagedorn."
Local governments should be given a share of the revenues which Hagedorn said they could use to fund civic projects.
He proposed that the PCSO draw up the lottery mechanics because of its experience in handling lotteries.
While accepting the influential Roman Catholic Church’s view against gambling, Hagedorn argued that gambling is part of human nature and that lack of jobs and poor pay will continue to force people to look to jueteng as a means of extra earnings.
Offering a legal alternative to jueteng will also give jueteng operators no more reason to bribe officials and police to look the other way.
"There is an ocean of difference between STL and jueteng. The proceeds of the former go to the government while those of the latter go to the pockets of jueteng lords, thereby enriching them and putting them in a position to bribe those in government," Hagedorn explained.
The task of going after jueteng operators is now with the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao has virtually dissolved the Anti-Illegal Gambling Operation Task Force, said police spokesman Senior Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao.
Chief Superintendent Antonio Nañas, the task force’s head, was appointed director of the PNP’s National Operations Center.
"We believe the CIDG is the appropriate unit to go after jueteng operations," he said.
Who is Zuce?
It remains unclear how Zuce — a former aide to Mrs. Arroyo’s political adviser who in mid-2005 came forward to testify that he had personal knowledge of the President cheating her way to victory in the 2004 presidential election — returned to government service.
But administration officials disavowed any Malacañang hand in Zuce’s involvement in the small-town lottery monitoring team.
"This is the first time I learned about it. We would like to defer any comment," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye told a press conference.
"I don’t know what this is all about," said one top administration official, who declined to be identified. "We’ll have to see what his plans are."
Bunye defended Hagedorn’s proposal to revive the small-town lottery.
"I believe the intention of Hagedorn is to be able to provide livelihood to those who have been displaced because of the anti- jueteng operations," he said.
Hagedorn remains Mrs. Arroyo’s anti-jueteng czar, Bunye emphasized, "and he has, I think, achieved enough to be able to make a dent in these anti-jueteng operations."
Accompanied by his lawyer, Zuce told an August 2005 press conference that Mrs. Arroyo met with several election officials at her house in Quezon City where he witnessed the wife of a suspected jueteng baron distribute bribes to the officials.
"What I know is that President Arroyo is not merely the beneficiary of the cheating in the 2004 elections," Zuce told reporters. "She had knowledge and direct participation in it."
Zuce added that he also paid bribes to Mindanao election officials — with money from his office — to ensure Mrs. Arroyo’s May 2004 victory.
Zuce claimed that Mrs. Arroyo had a "secret dinner" with 27 regional and provincial officials in January 2004 at her house in posh La Vista Subdivision in Katipunan, Quezon City.
After dinner, Pampanga provincial board member Lilia Pineda, an Arroyo friend and wife of suspected illegal gambling lord Bong Pineda, allegedly distributed envelopes containing P30,000 to each official.
He claimed that the meeting, as well as the bribe offer, was done in coordination with former election official Virgilio Garcillano, then the Mindanao election chief. He said Garcillano is a distant relative.
Mrs. Arroyo, who was then facing impeachment over vote-rigging and other allegations, denied Zuce’s charges.
Zuce’s allegations compounded accusations that Mrs. Arroyo’s husband, eldest son and brother-in-law took payoffs from jueteng barons. — With Paolo Romero, Sheila Crisostomo, Cecille Suerte Felipe
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2006 by
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved