Erap on Vidal call: I didn't promise anything

MANILA, Philippines – Ousted President Joseph Estrada rejected yesterday the statement of Archbishop of Cebu Ricardo Cardinal Vidal that he had vowed to stay out of politics.

In a telephone interview with The STAR, Estrada said he did not promise anything when he accepted and signed the executive clemency granted by President Arroyo in October last year.

“The pardon granted to me was unconditional because it stated in the dispositive portion the words ‘restoring my civil and political rights’,” he said.

Estrada said nobody, including the bishops, can stop him from helping the people in searching for the truth.

“Helping the opposition and the people’s search for the truth does not make me engaged in politics,” he said.

Estrada said Vidal and the other Catholic bishops and leaders of the Church should stop raising moral issues against him.

“They should wake up and join the people’s search for the truth,” he said.

“They should go to the bottom of the scandal involving the national broadband network deal for the Filipino people to know the truth.”

Estrada said he was allowed to vote in the barangay elections in October last year following the grant of executive clemency to him.

“If I can vote, I can be voted upon,” he said.

Estrada said he was not politicking when he joined anti-Arroyo rallies initiated by the opposition, civil society groups, students, faculty members and other groups calling for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation.

He will throw his hat in the 2010 presidential elections if he will top the survey of presidentiables six months before the elections, Estrada said earlier.        – Jose Rodel Clapano