Vidal favors house arrest for Estrada

CEBU CITY — Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said in a statement that he favors the "house arrest" of former President Joseph Estrada.

Vidal made the disclosure in response to calls and letters asking for his comment on the move to transfer the former leader to his house in San Juan, Metro Manila.

Estrada, deposed during the EDSA 2 people power in 2001, has long been identified with Vidal since his days at the Senate.

The call for his house arrest has been gaining ground, with former President Corazon Aquino, Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) spiritual head Erdie Manalo, Jesus is Lord leader Eddie Villanueva and Mike Velarde of the El Shaddai Community endorsing the arrangement even if only during the Christmas holidays.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Teodoro Bacani has also agreed with the suggestion, but former Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Lingayen-Dagupan, has opposed it.

"Let us work to effect a just and lasting peace by putting aside all rancor and animosities without dispensing with the demands of justice. We ask the courts of law to judiciously speed up the resolution of cases that have impeded the attainment of national unity. In this regard, we echo the appeal of some business, religious and political groups to put former President Joseph Estrada under house arrest, while respecting what courts might decide in justice," Vidal said in a statement the other day.

The decision to support the move for Estrada’s house arrest was reached by the presbyteral council.

"We have documents coming from several groups and the stories that have been printed in the newspapers favoring this kind of situation for the former president. And so in the light of those documents, we, at first, would like to put it in general terms but later on, we decided to put some specifics, a kind of an example that can perhaps unify our nation," Vidal added.

Vidal told reporters the other day that he issued the statement in behalf of the Cebu Archdiocese, and that he had sent it to CBCP Catholic president Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, who made some additions on the statement and then sent it back to him.

"I have to let him know that I am going to say something because of many petitions or communications sent to my office. Therefore, I had to make a stand whether I like it or not," said Vidal, who visited Estrada at the Philippine Veterans Hospital last Saturday. — Freeman News Service