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Filipinos blast Estrada: resignation only way out of crisis

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October 26, 2000 

MANILA (AP) - As tens of thousands of Filipinos marched demanding President Joseph Estrada step down, the vice president said Wednesday that resignation is the only way to end the "crisis of confidence" gripping the Philippines.

"If we want to solve this problem as soon as we can, it is urgent," Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in her strongest statement yet on the scandal that erupted with allegations Estrada took illegal gambling kickbacks.

Arroyo has avoided calling directly for Estrada to quit because she is first in line to succeed him. But as the local currency, the peso, tumbled to yet another record low Wednesday, Arroyo warned the Philippines' economic troubles will worsen if Estrada does not go.

"It's his call, not mine," Arroyo said. Arroyo has already left Estrada's Cabinet, but she declined to say whether she would pardon him if she becomes president.

Estrada has denied charges from a provincial governor that he accepted cash skimmed from an illegal numbers game and provincial tobacco taxes, but the pressures against him are increasing rapidly.

Although Estrada, a former movie actor known by the nickname "Erap," made his political name by casting himself as the friend of poor Filipinos, tens of thousands of people turned out Wednesday to protest in Manila and at least a dozen other cities, waving banners and wearing T-shirts that said "Resign."

"The real Erap is the one that owns several mansions, complete with giant theaters and swimming pools, who spoils his mistresses and cronies using the people's money," said Rafael Mariano, chairman of the left-wing Bayan group at a demonstration by more than 10,000 people in metropolitan Manila's Makati business district.

Estrada received a warm welcome Wednesday in Cebu in the central Philippines, but residents of poor neighborhoods claimed they had been paid between 50 pesos and 150 pesos (dlrs 1 and dlrs 3) to attend his rally.

"What are they thinking? That they can buy people with their money?" said Linda Linabog, a vendor, on the ABS-CBN News Channel.

Estrada vowed to keep fighting. "I'm doing my best to solve the problems of my people," he said.

But positive news that normally would have boosted his popularity - the rescue Wednesday of three Malaysian captives held by Muslim rebels in the south - was vastly overshadowed by the political turmoil.

Among those who have urged Estrada to step down are the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches and former presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos.

The influential Catholic archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin, called an outdoor prayer rally Nov. 4 to appeal to Estrada's "sense of decency to step down and render our nation a great favor."

The supreme council of the nation's Muslim minority weighed in Wednesday, branding Estrada as an "evildoer" unfit to govern.

Opposition groups have filed an impeachment complaint with the House of Representatives. But Estrada's LAMP party controls both houses of Congress so he apparently has enough support to defeat the charges of bribery, graft and constitutional violations.

Congress adjourns in less than 50 working days, and Senate blue-ribbon committee chairman Aquilino Pimentel said it appeared the House impeachment move "will die a premature and unfortunate demise."

An opposition representative, Joker Arroyo, complained Wednesday night the House Justice Committee did not even plan to meet for another 12 days.

Early Wednesday, a woman who allegedly kept records of the gambling payoffs failed to appear at a separate Senate inquiry after being suddenly hospitalized, reportedly for hypertension and palpitations.

A Senate medical official sent to examine Yolanda Ricaforte was initially told by the hospital that she was not there. Hospital administrators later acknowledged Ricaforte had been admitted but would not say why and refused to let the Senate official examine her.

Ricaforte had previously staged a hasty departure by flying to California early this month after a provincial governor, Luis Singson, indicated he was about to level major corruption charges against Estrada. She returned Monday.

Singson has testified that Estrada assigned Ricaforte to keep records of millions of dollars in payoffs from an illegal numbers game, called "jueteng," the charge that set off the scandal.

Singson said he personally provided Estrada with more than 400 million pesos (dlrs 8.6 million) in jueteng kickbacks and 130 million pesos (dlrs 2.8 million) from tobacco taxes. Senators continued Wednesday to dig into the paper trail of the tobacco tax money.

An independent group of investigative journalists also accused Estrada of buying several houses worth nearly 1 billion pesos (dlrs 20 million) in the names of friends and lawyers. Presidential Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora denied it Wednesday, saying the houses were rented or borrowed by Estrada.