Erap to tell Sandigan today if he still wants US trip

Ousted President Joseph Estrada will appear today before the Sandiganbayan special division to clarify whether he still intends to go to the United States on Jan. 23 for knee surgery.

"(The justices) are really confused over what he really wants," said lawyer Renato Bocar, special division spokesman.

"That’s the reason why he has been summoned to clarify, from his own mouth, what he really wants because he keeps on changing his declarations in the media," Bocar said.

The special division will also hear the arguments of prosecutors on their motion for the court to reconsider its Dec. 23 ruling allowing Estrada to undergo the operation at the Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, California.

It will also take up the question raised by former Senate president Jovito Salonga on the validity of the controversial decision.

Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio has opposed the ruling for fear that Estrada will not return home to escape the court’s jurisdiction and the plunder case against him.

Last month, the anti-graft court — citing humanitarian reasons — approved Estrada’s petition to have the knee operation performed by his American doctor, Christopher Mow, in California.

But the government appealed, and the court imposed several conditions — that he should return within three months, pay a P1-million bond, and be accompanied by four police officers to monitor his movements, at his expense.

However, in recent weeks, Estrada’s planned US trip has come into doubt, and his lawyers have suggested he may travel elsewhere for the operation.

Earlier this month, Estrada’s wife, Sen. Luisa Ejercito, said she was informed by the US Embassy that it won’t issue Estrada a visa.

The embassy refused to comment.

Ejercito also claimed that Mow told them the surgery would cost at least $1.2 million, and that the former president didn’t have the money.

His lawyers then proposed the surgery could be done in France, Japan or Canada.

The 66-year-old Estrada has also been quoted in newspapers as saying he wants to stay in the Philippines until the May 10 elections to help his buddy, action star Fernando Poe Jr., with his campaign to win the presidency.

"If he decides to leave for another country, his original request would be considered moot and academic... and we will require him to file a new request specifying the new country of his preference," Bocar said.

Estrada, who was overthrown in January 2001 by a military-backed civilian uprising, is being held without bail at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.

His doctors say Estrada suffers from osteoarthritis and torn ligaments in his knees, and has a cataract and a cyst in his left eye, and multiple slipped discs pressing against his spinal cord.

They say his back ailment could deteriorate if his knee condition does not improve.

Plunder Watch has claimed the special division’s decision to grant Estrada’s request for surgery abroad was part of President Arroyo’s election moves to win over millions of Estrada’s supporters, who come mostly from the masses. Malacañang has denied this. — With AP