Prosecutors oppose Erap furlough for Jinggoy’s oath-taking

Government prosecutors opposed yesterday a petition by former President Joseph Estrada to allow him to attend the June 27 oath-taking of his son, Senator-elect Jinggoy Estrada, at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan.

Chief Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio said that bringing Estrada to San Juan entails security risks and may even be the trigger for destabilization attempts against the Arroyo administration.

"Other groups may take advantage of the situation. Let us not add tension to the situation. Some forces — I’m not saying that it will be Erap’s — might agitate people. Anxiety is prevailing in the country," he said.

Estrada has been detained since last October at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, on plunder charges filed before the Sandiganbayan.

Villa Ignacio told the justices of the special division of the Sandiganbayan that the Estradas could host the oath-taking at the deposed leader’s 15-hectare resthouse, just across Camp Capinpin.

He said that holding the affair at the resthouse is not just more practical for the government, which can avoid the elaborate arrangements of transporting the former president to a "far, far away" place. The rest house can also "accommodate more people" than the Club Filipino.

Defense lawyers Manuel Pamaran, Jose Flaminiano and Noel Malaya argued in yesterday’s hearing that the Club Filipino is a better venue for the oath-taking of Jinggoy, a former San Juan mayor, because it is "in full view of the people."

Jinggoy is still in the United States to visit Filipino communities in California. Like his father, Jinggoy has also been charged before the Sandiganbayan. But he has been released on P500,000 bail. He was supposed to return last June 16 but was granted an extension until June 27.

The elder Estrada has already been granted several furloughs this year from his detention quarters in Camp Capinpin.

He was twice permitted to visit his ailing 99-year-old mother, Doña Mary Ejercito, in San Juan.

He was also allowed to host social functions at his Tanay resthouse, including his birthday party on April 19, a three-day Lenten retreat, and a thanksgiving Mass last June 6 to celebrate Jinggoy’s electoral victory.