EDSA II to Erap: Resign

With the corruption case against President Estrada all but dead, thousands of people took to the streets yesterday, blasting pro-administration senator-judges for suppressing potentially damaging evidence.

Following the loss of confidence in the impeachment process, opposition and business groups led the renewed call for the immediate resignation of the impeached leader.

A crowd of 10,000 that gathered at the Our Lady of EDSA Shrine in Ortigas before midnight expressed disgust over an 11-10 vote in the Senate impeachment court barring the opening of documents that would have proved the existence of around P3.3 billion in secret bank accounts purportedly held by Mr. Estrada.

Mobile phone text messages quickly spread the word of a gathering at the shrine. Protesters, including students, office workers, laborers, nuns and showbusiness personalities waved signs saying "Guilty," "Oust Estrada Now" and Justice Died Last Night" as they chanted, "Enough is enough. You’re exposed. Get out!"

"People power II has begun," said the leftist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), referring to the people power revolt in 1986 that toppled the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. .after 20 years in power.

Bayan leaders called for a nationwide strike, including civil disobedience, industrial and office walkouts, closure of business establishments, student boycotts, community barricades and massive demonstrations.

"The forum is now on the streets, no longer in the Senate halls," said Rep. Oscar Moreno, one of the 11 prosecutors from the House of Representatives who resigned from the impeachment trail.

The protest reached a crescendo at 3 a.m. before participants, weary and not ready to take further action, finally began trudging home.

But they were back by mid-morning as some 30,000 gathered outside the EDSA Shrine. Counterpart protests were staged in other parts of Metro Manila and the provinces.

Stock brokers of the Makati Stock Exchange, wearing black armbands, walked off the trading floor to show their disgust over the trial developments.

Nine big business groups, led by the Makati Business Club (MBC), said a grave injustice was committed following the majority vote to bury the evidence.

Joining the MBC in its call for the President’s resignation were the Management Association of the Philippines, the Bishop-Businessmen’s Conference, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, Investment Houses Association of the Philippines, Philippine Computer Society, Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines, Chamber of Real Estate Builders Associations and the Philippine Marketing Associations.

They said the repercussions of the Senate’s decision will be felt most deeply by the poor as prices rise, investments fall and jobs disappear.

Former President Fidel Ramos, who had just arrived from Hong Kong, staged a protest walk along a 10-kilometer stretch from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to the EDSA Shrine, leading a group of about 300 supporters.

The former leader and 1986 people power key figure called on the military and the police to rally behind the people demanding the resignation of the President.

Earlier, before dawn, two other EDSA heroes joined the crowd to show their concern over the decision of the Senate.

Former President Corazon Aquino and Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin vowed to step up public protests to demand the resignation of the President.

Sin, a longtime opponent of Mr. Estrada, said it would be an exercise in futility if Mr. Estrada’s trial continued even after the Senate virtually acquitted the President of an array of corruption charges.

Sin blasted senators who had voted to block the opening of the envelope supposedly containing documents on the secret bank accounts.

"We wish to express our indignation at this failure of these 11 senators to uphold the search for truth," the archbishop said.

Later in an afternoon Mass at the shrine, Sin said "one immoral President and 11 shameless senators are no match for the millions of Filipinos who live and die by the truth."

In his homily, Sin said Filipinos are angry because of the kind of president Mr. Estrada turned out to be.

"Mr. President, how could you have done this to us? The poor trusted you and you betrayed them," he said.

Five senator-judges joined the estimated 60,000 who gathered at the EDSA Shrine and called for Mr. Estrada’s resignation.

Senators Teofisto Guingona, Loren Legarda-Leviste, Renato Cayetano, Franklin Drilon and Raul Roco, who had voted for the opening of the second envelope, proceeded to the rally site after trial presiding officer Chief Justice Hilario Davide suspended the proceedings.

Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who would replace Mr. Estrada if he is convicted, called on Malacañang, the Armed Forces and the police to respect the mandate of the Constitution and allow "the people to express their indignation at this administration."

She said the President should be blamed if violence erupts at mass protests calling for his ouster.

"Should violence erupt because of the President’s militant stand, the bloodshed will be on his very doorstep," Arroyo said. "I trust he will not shrink from his duty to protect life and limb, particularly those who demand his resignation."

Heightened alert

Riot policemen were placed on "heightened alert" yesterday in Metro Manila and other key cities nationwide because of the political chaos from the impeachment trial.

However, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said the President has instructed the police and the military to exercise "maximum tolerance" in dealing with the street protests.

"The President told us to exercise maximum tolerance and make sure no violence erupts. The general public should be protected," Mercado said in an interview.

He assured the public that there would be no dispersal of the EDSA crowd as long as the protests remain peaceful. The President, he said, would allow protests but participants who break the law or obstruct traffic will be arrested.

As early as 5 a.m., the Central Police District deployed a battalion of civil disturbance units to increase police visibility at the shrine area.

The decision by the Senate triggered protests and rekindled security concerns in Metro Manila, where simultaneous bomb attacks killed 22 people last Dec. 30.

"We are ready for any eventuality and are on heightened alert," Philippine National Police chief Director General Panfilo Lacson said.

Riot police from nearby provinces would be trucked in to Metro Manila to beef up forces guarding the Senate building, shopping malls and railway stations.

Lacson and Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Angelo Reyes said their forces remain loyal to the Constitution and would not take sides amid the political turmoil.

Arroyo warned there was a plot to install a "civilian-military junta" to seize power.

"I warn those plotting to take over the reins of government that the people will certainly oppose and expose the plot. The people will hound you and you will bear the brunt of their collective indignation," she said, without naming the plotters.

‘Clear display of partisanship’

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) condemned what it called "the clear display of partisanship and unmitigated arrogance" of the 11 senators who blocked the presentation of evidence supposedly linking the President to unexplained wealth of P3.3 billion.

"The 11 betrayed public trust and demeaned the venerable institution of the Senate," IBP national president Arthur Lim said.

He called on all lawyers to assemble at the IBP headquarters on Monday "to launch a moral war against this corrupt and decadent regime."

Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma said tragedy struck the trial court the other day when senators made "a purely political partisan vote on a matter which had an intimate relation to the truth of the charges against the President."

"Truth is the ultimate good of the trial. That being so, it was necessary to open the second envelope and lay bare its contents for the senator-judges to see and ascertain their worth as evidence," she said.

Bayan said it no longer cares what happens in the trial and will continue with mass protests until Mr. Estrada is ousted.

"The trial has become a moro-moro. We will never attain justice with pro-Estrada senators around," Bayan secretary general Teodoro Casiño said.

Caloocan City Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo called on his constituents to join the indignation rallies in protest of the virtual acquittal of the President.

"If we cannot get justice at the Senate, then the people’s street parliament will be a better alternative," Malonzo said.

University of the Philippines president Francisco Nemenzo said the impeachment process is now irreparably damaged, as the Senate denied the defense panel the chance to make a believable presentation of the President’s side.

"It is most unfortunate that the 11 senators wrecked the only institutional mechanism that could have averted a full-blown crisis," Nemenzo said.

The Ateneo de Manila University Law School condemned "the blatant disregard for the people’s right to be informed on a very important matter of public concern."

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines spokesman Alex Aguilar sought the resignation of the 11 senators who voted against the opening the envelope.

"Their action constitutes a betrayal, a high crime against the people," Aguilar said.

He noted that some 200,000 workers from Metro Manila and nearby provinces walked out of their workplaces to join the oust-Erap rallies. – Sandy Araneta, Joanne Rae Ramirez, Rey Arquiza, Cristina Mendez, Marichu Villanueva, Sheila Crisostomo, Mayen Jaymalin, Non Alquitran, Pete Laude, Paolo Romero, Matthew Estabillo, Aurea Calica, Liberty Dones, Wilfredo Suarez