Erap wants to attend Mike Velarde’s birthday

Detained President Joseph Estrada asked the Sandiganbayan yesterday to grant him a furlough on Aug. 20 to undergo a medical checkup at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan and also to attend the birthday Mass of El Shaddai leader Bro. Mike Velarde.

Jay Flaminiano, a member of the defense team, said Estrada was "invited" by Bro. Mike to attend the religious group’s regular Saturday Mass at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila’s Rizal Park where the birthday of Velarde and El Shaddai’s anniversary will be celebrated.

In a two-page motion, defense counsel Jose Flaminiano — Jay’s father — sought permission from justices of the anti-graft court for Estrada’s regular checkup at 4 p.m. of Aug. 20, after which he would "proceed" to the El Shaddai gathering in Manila.

The defense lawyers assured Justices Teresita Leonardo de-Castro, Francisco Villaruz and Diosdado Peralta that the ousted leader, who is undergoing trial for plunder, "will return" to his Tanay resthouse, where he has been detained since July 2004, immediately after the Mass.

"If request is granted, it is understood that President Estrada will comply with the usual terms and conditions that may be imposed by the honorable court," the former chief prosecutor of Manila said, referring to the "no media interview" policy, among other restrictions.

The last time Estrada was granted permission by the court to undergo a medical examination was on July 4, also at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in Greenhills, San Juan. He had been complaining of severe pains at that time.

"We will allow him today (to undergo the medical checkup), subject to the same conditions," the court told defense lawyers and government prosecutors, led by Dennis Villa Ignacio, who did not oppose the request provided security arrangements were put in place.

Villa Ignacio told the Sandiganbayan "we have no objection to bringing him to the hospital, but what we are concerned (about) is the security measures. These are among the concerns of the prosecution panel."

Flaminiano earlier said that Estrada’s artificial knee replacements required an X-ray examination, adding Estrada should have undergone a medical checkup last March, as per recommendation of Dr. Lorenzo Hocson, but he failed to leave his resthouse.

In mid-February, the 68-year-old former actor was airlifted from his detention place at his vacation house and was confined at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center for four days after he was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Estrada had been under the care of Dr. Cecil Tady, head of the pulmonary medicine division of Cardinal Santos Hospital, during the duration of his stay. One fourth of his lungs had been diagnosed as afflicted with pneumonia.