Court allows Erap to visit mom on 101st birthday

Former President Joseph Estrada was allowed to visit his mother, Mary Marcelo-Ejercito, who is celebrating her 101st birthday today.

The deposed president was allowed to leave his Tanay resthouse at 7 a.m. and proceed directly to the family residence on No. 1 Polk street in Greenhills, San Juan where he will stay until 10 p.m.

The Philippine National Police (PNP), however, denied Estrada’s request to see his personal dentist at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Alabang, Muntinlupa City tomorrow afternoon.

In a two-page comment filed with the Sandiganbayan Special Division and signed by Chief Superintendent Edgardo Doromal, head of the Police Security and Protection Office, the PNP said moving Estrada to the Asian Hospital to see his dentist, Dr. Hermogenes Villareal, would entail additional security preparations on the part of PSPO.

"Security procedures require that the PSPO be given sufficient time to see to it that all security concerns are first threshed out," the PNP said.

It added that the short notice given to the PNP would not be sufficient for them to undertake the necessary preparation.

The PNP, however, told the court that it is open to allowing Dr. Villareal to check on Estrada at his Tanay resthouse.

"The PSPO could escort him there, including personnel who could assist him in his work. This arrangement will not entail so much security preparations," the PNP said.

In an urgent motion, Estrada, through his lawyer Rene Saguisag, said he must see his dentist because of a "metallic pain that would not go away."

The PNP did not object to Estrada’s request to be allowed to stay in their Polk Street mansion but the court did not allow the former president to stay until early Friday morning as he had requested.

Estrada has a scheduled court appearance at the Sandiganbayan on Friday for his plunder trial and had expressed his wish to be transported there directly from Polk Street.

In a resolution signed by Sandiganbayan Special Division chairman Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro and Associate Justices Francisco Villaluz Jr. and Diosdado Peralta, the court reminded the PNP to control and supervise all visitors of Estrada and prevent him from making use of any electronic communications device such as cellular phones and telephones while at the mansion.

The court also told members of the media that Estrada shall not be interviewed except upon the court’s order.

Doña Mary’s birthday was actually yesterday but Estrada told the court that it would instead be celebrated today to accommodate his mother’s visitors and well-wishers from abroad. The party would also be held in Polk Street instead of the matriarch’s residence on nearby Kennedy Street because it is more spacious.