Narvasa: GMA asked Erap to go into exile

President Arroyo wanted detained former President Joseph Estrada to go into "voluntary exile" so he could be "spared the humiliation and embarrassment" of facing corruption charges, former chief justice Andres Narvasa testified before the Sandiganbayan yesterday.

Narvasa told the Special Division of the anti-graft court that Mrs. Arroyo talked to him over the phone during a meeting with a go-between, businessman Ernest Escaler, in a Chinese restaurant sometime in late January 2001.

The former chief justice was the 39th witness for the defense in the plunder case against Estrada.

Narvasa said Estrada was given two options by the Arroyo administration: submit a formal resignation letter before going into exile, or leave the country quietly through "the back door" without a resignation letter, taking his assets with him.

Narvasa said Escaler, a close friend of his son Andres Jr. (Chito), handed him a cell phone during the meeting.

"I spoke to the President, I recognized her voice. You know, she has a very distinctive voice," Narvasa said.

During the brief conversation, Mrs. Arroyo reportedly asked Narvasa if he could "talk to one of her representatives."

The representative turned out to be former Batangas congressman and justice secretary Hernando Perez.

Narvasa, 76, described Perez and Escaler as close friends with a common interest in orchids.

"After several minutes the cell phone rang" and the caller, Narvasa said, "identified himself as Perez."

Narvasa said Perez later met and "talked in private" with Estrada for "about 15 minutes" at the home of ambassador Manuel Brillantes at Forbes Park in Makati City.

But the talks bogged down, he said, because Estrada "rejected" both the "front-door" and the "backdoor" option offered by Mrs. Arroyo’s emissaries.

The front-door option, Narvasa explained, would have called for Estrada to resign, presumably to seek "medical treatment."

Under the backdoor option, Estrada and his family would be allowed to "take out their assets" without the need for him to submit a formal resignation.

"Masyado nila (GMA, Nani, et al) akong iniipit. Maglabanan na lang kami. Bahala na sila (They’re putting the squeeze on me. But I’ve decided to fight it out whatever happens)," Narvasa quoted Estrada as saying.

Narvasa, it will be recalled, was one of Estrada’s legal advisers during the aborted impeachment trial of the deposed leader in December 2000 to January 2001.

Estrada confirmed the offers of voluntary exile to The STAR.

Estrada said he would reject any similar offers in the future, should they occur.

"Never. Never will I leave the country. I was born here. I live here and will die here," he said. This, he said, was the same response he gave to the original offer from Malacañang.

Estrada also repeated his appeal for the Sandiganbayan to grant him bail.

Perez apparently feared Estrada could become a "disturbing and disrupting factor" with "certain groups" pushing for his prosecution, Narvasa revealed during his direct examination by former justice secretary Serafin Cuevas.

Narvasa noted that Perez had said "the matter of exile was becoming urgent because there were witnesses who were coming forward, including his supposed cronies Eleuterio Tan, George Go, Jaime Dichaves."

"There were certain groups like civil society, including legislator Joker Arroyo, who were moving for his prosecution for crimes that will be established by the evidence," Narvasa said of Perez’s offer of a graceful exit to Estrada.

Narvasa was not questioned by the prosecution.

Chief Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio said Narvasa’s testimony had "nothing to do" with the corruption cases filed against Estrada.

Narvasa, he said, failed to "rebut the prosecution’s evidence on the Jose Velarde account, the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation, the jueteng collection, the Belle Corporation kickbacks or the tobacco excise tax commissions. There is no need to cross-examine." — With Marichu Villanueva