After Pardon: Will Erap Camp Leave Anti-Arroyo Opposition?

Published on October 27, 2007

Before Malacañang through Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye announced President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s granting of executive clemency to ousted President Joseph Estrada – who was recently convicted of plunder – the President appeared to be facing a brewing political storm. With Estrada having been pardoned amid renewed calls for Arroyo’s resignation, the question of whether his camp – which makes up a sizeable portion of the anti-Arroyo forces – will abandon the anti-Arroyo opposition has surfaced.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 38, October 28-November 3, 2007

In a statement read by lawyer Edward Serapio – Estrada’s co-accused in the plunder case against him – Estrada, who used to refer to himself as the “real President of the Philippines,” repeatedly referred to Arroyo as “President.”

“Salamat kay Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sa pagbigay ng executive clemency at kung hindi niya ako binigyan ng executive clemency ay hindi n’yo ako kaharap ngayong gabi” (Thanks to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for giving me executive clemency because without it, I would not be with you here tonight), Estrada said. “Kaya pasalamatan natin siya. Palakpakan natin siya” (So let’s thank her. Let’s applaud her).

“I thank President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for granting me full, free, and absolute pardon midway through her term,” Estrada also said.

Estrada has expressed intention to support “the programs” of the Arroyo administration as a way of repaying the “blessings” he claims to have received.

“I believe I can best continue to repay our people the blessings that God has so graciously given me by supporting from hereon the programs of Mrs. Arroyo that are intended to attack generational poverty and hunger,” he said in his statement. “We must now as a nation attend to our people’s continuing clamor for food on their tables, roofs above their heads, and better education and health care for their children.”

Last July, as the plunder trial was winding up, Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada – son of the deposed President – together with Sens. Manny Villar, Francis “Chiz” Escudero, and Alan Peter Cayetano – aligned with a Senate bloc that includes a number of administration senators in the contest for the Senate leadership. Villar, who ran under the Genuine Opposition in last May’s senatorial and local elections together with Escudero and Cayetano, was elected Senate President.

The younger Estrada, aside from being elected Senate President Pro-Tempore, was acquited together with Serapio.

The elder Estrada was convicted, and promptly filed a motion for reconsideration before the Sandiganbayan. He withdrew his motion on Oct. 22 and was pardoned three days later.

Will the Estrada camp now abandon the broad anti-Arroyo opposition?

NBN and Malacañang bribery scams

The scandal surrounding the National Broadband Network (NBN) deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp., as well as the bribery of local officials that allegedly took within the very confines of Malacañang generated heat in the country’s political scene. There were renewed calls for Arroyo’s resignation from office or for investigations into the bribery scam – including from unexpected quarters – while within the ruling coalition there was increasing pressure for the Chief Executive to implement reforms within a limited time frame.

“Everyone is now within the framework of getting rid of her (Arroyo),” activist priest Fr. Joe Dizon said in an interview with Bulatlat a few minutes before Bunye’s announcement of the pardon grant for Estrada. “She can no longer govern effectively – no, she can no longer govern.”

The NBN project is a $329-million contract that aims to connect government agencies throughout the Philippines through the Internet.

The deal was signed in Boao, China on April 21 – when the government was not allowed to sign contracts because of the then-upcoming senatorial and local elections. It has become controversial for allegedly being overpriced and for supposedly having been signed without going through the proper bidding process.

Jose de Venecia III, son of House Speaker Jose de Venecia and co-founder of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. which is one of the losing bidders in the NBN deal, accused former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos of offering him $10 million in exchange for backing out of the NBN deal – an accusation the former Comelec chief has denied.

In a privileged speech on Aug. 29, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said it was Abalos who brokered the deal between the Philippine government and ZTE Corp. Padilla also said Abalos was seen playing golf with ZTE officials in Manila and Shenzen. He also accused Abalos of receiving money and women in exchange for brokering the NBN deal.

In a Senate hearing on Sept. 26, former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Romulo Neri said under oath that Abalos had offered him a bribe amounting to P200 million ($4,539,264 at an exchange rate of $1=P44.06) in connection with the NBN project. “Sec, may 200 ka dito” (Mr. Secretary, you have 200 here), he quoted Abalos as saying to him in a meeting with ZTE officials “late last year or early this year.” What they were talking about was “basically (about) the NBN project,” he said.

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