Estrada: RP a nation in distress

Former President Joseph Estrada painted yesterday a gloomy picture of the country and contended that the situation is much better when he was president.

In a statement entitled "A Nation in Distress," issued as President Arroyo was about to deliver her first State of the Nation Address, Estrada said that "the promised economic deliverance has not come to pass."

The leaders of Mrs. Arroyo had previously claimed that the problems besetting the nation were political in nature and that the ouster of Estrada would provide the solution.

"There is today, a rising sense of helplessness and fear that do not come simply from the marginalized and poorer sectors of society, but even among the elite and big businesses. We live today in a nation in distress," Estrada contended.

He said that the growth rate, inflation rate, the stock market and the peso were much better before the impeachment proceedings in October than today.

The economic condition improved during the first months of the Arroyo administration but it gradually deteriorated.

Estrada said that with the passage of time after his fall, "we now realize that there are no instant solutions."

The administration claimed that the economic ills besetting the industrialized countries have adversely affected smaller countries like the Philippines.

Estrada, however, laid the blame on the Arroyo administration.

"Jobs have been lost and employment levels are consistently on the slump. Opportunities have been squandered because we have taken the peace and order situation for granted," Estrada claimed.

He called for an overhaul of systems and structures, not only in the economic front but also in the management of peace and order.

"We must address these not with shortcut solutions such as the use of warrantless arrests, but must pursue initiatives based on concrete and sustainable policies for the rich and poor alike," he added.

He said that during his administration he took the initiative to contain the problems of peace and order, secessionist movement and banditry, as he tried to rebuild Mindanao.

"Today, we realize that our efforts are gradually being eroded," he lamented, although he expressed satisfaction that some of his initiatives are being pursued by the present administration.

Estrada, who was accused of favoring a select group of friends, also said that development should reach the grassroots "and not be concentrated in the elite sector of society."

"We must now develop a concrete agenda towards uplifting the predicament of the poor. For EDSA III will always haunt this and future administration. Democracy must not be reflected only in political freedoms but in the democratization of wealth," he said.

He stressed that this endeavor should transcend politics and that he stands to be counted in this undertaking.

‘Put up or shut up’

Meanwhile, principal Estrada lawyer, former Sen. Rene Saguisag challenged private prosecution lawyer Leonard de Vera to "put up or shut up" on his claim that Overall Deputy Ombudsman Margarito Gervacio is spying for Estrada’s defense team.

"De Vera’s continuing charge reaches the integrity of our legal panel. It smears all of us and the Ombudsman cannot be insensitive to such concerns," Saguisag wrote in opposing the Ombudsman’s motion to censure Estrada and his lawyers for violating the sub judice rule.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto had earlier asked the Sandiganbayan to censure the former president and his lawyers for discussing Estrada’s cases outside the anti-graft court.

But Saguisag said Desierto’s motion to censure is a "pathetic scrap of paper" to curry favor from President Arroyo.

"The pathetic scrap of paper the Ombudsman filed to censure us, instead of criticizing the Palace for commenting on this case and those in the civil society who joined us in critiquing the palace. He spared them given his usual evil-eye-and-an-unequal-hand approach. He knows which hand to bite or otherwise," Saguisag said. – Jose Rodel Clapano