Erap veers back to impeachment tack - GOTCHA by Jarius Bondoc

Favorite son JV Ejercito has broken off talks – for now – with foes of Joseph Estrada. Cabinet colleagues have scolded Finance Secretary Jose Pardo for likewise exploring a deal with the Opposition for the President’s graceful exit, and told him to limit his role to mere communication link with former President Cory Aquino. His few remaining supporters in the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry have dropped calls for a referendum, and succumbed to the overwhelming majority of members’ demand for Estrada’s resignation. Buoyed by Monday’s peso and stock market recovery with what he thinks are effects of his announced reforms, Estrada has revived his earlier strategy to face impeachment instead of stepping down. This was evident when he emerged from a meeting with Bishop Eraño Manalo, elated that the Iglesia ni Cristo will just watch the case sail through Congress.

Foes now see Estrada digging in for battle to stay in power. They snicker that he’s clutching at straws, desperately reading in a momentary financial upsurge more than what it really meant: Investors cashing in on his imminent departure with last week’s flurry of resignations from the Cabinet and ruling LAMP coalition. But they also worry that Estrada will draw from his presidential arsenal all sorts of tricks and maneuvers to thwart the impeachment process.

Minority congressmen saw a preview of what’s in store during last Monday’s hearing of the House justice committee. Led by Rep. Didagen Dilangalen – he who also oversaw the gagging of Luis Singson’s Juetengate testimony three weeks back – LAMP members attempted to throw out of the 51-man body a bipartisam impeachment endorsement signed by 99 congressmen. LAMP maverick Joker Arroyo said it looked ridiculous for a handful to junk the wish of the 99 to transmit at once the impeachment complaint for Senate trial. Still, one of the would-be spoilers cried that they hadn’t even read the endorsement, so they can’t vote to report it out on Monday’s plenary session. Yet only minutes earlier, he actually voted to let the committee accept the document that only he hadn’t read. Most of the committee members subsequently agreed to affirm the complaint on Monday. But up to yesterday afternoon, Dilangalen was still looking for procedural loopholes to block it.

Deputy Minority Leader Sergio Apostol says the LAMP game plan is clear: Estrada will keep saying publicly that he wants the impeachment case to move fast so he can finally answer the 10 charges for bribery, graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust. But LAMP hitmen in Congress will try to delay and derail it at every conceivable turn.

Minority members say the 99 endorsers hope the House will not only vote on Monday to submit the case for Senate trial, but also appoint a panel of 11 lawyer-congressmen who will prosecute Estrada. But they’ve gotten wind of a plan by LAMP members to be conveniently absent so the 219-member chamber won’t have a quorum to conduct business. If they do muster a quorum, an alternative plan is to defer discussions on the case and instead try to unseat Speaker Manny Villar, who bolted from LAMP last week.

Legal counsels of the 99 endorsers, meanwhile, have begun counting the 15 senators needed to convict Estrada. Seven senators are with the Opposition: Tito Guingona, Rene Cayetano, Robert Barbers, Loren Legarda, Juan Flavier, Raul Roco and Sergio Osmeña III. Seven LAMP senators have distanced themselves from the coalition: Jun Magsaysay, Frank Drilon, Nikki Coseteng, Rodolfo Biazon, Robert Jaworski, Ramon Revilla and Nene Pimentel. One more from among LAMP members perceived as independent-minded – Gringo Honasan, Juan Ponce Enrile or Tito Sotto – and they’d depose Estrada. They can forget the perceived loyalists: Blas Ople, Kit Tatad, Miriam Santiago, John Osmeña and Tessie Oreta.

Still, the legal counsels can’t be too sure. Legal booby traps could block their way. Santiago has raised the possibility of several Opposition senators having to inhibit themselves from sitting as jurors because they prejudged the case by participating in Pimentel’s Blue-Ribbon committee hearings on Juetengate even after the impeachment case was filed. And Enrile hinted yesterday that he’d force a change of Senate President next week, instead of transforming the Senate into a chamber of jurors, because Drilon has resigned from LAMP. Besides, membership in the Opposition or departure from LAMP does not guarantee votes to convict.

Political analysts see Estrada’s strategy to focus on impeachment as a ploy to buy time to recover lost political ground. Polls conducted before the rash of LAMP and Cabinet resignations show that the public still didn’t know what the brouhaha is all about. Majority of respondents from the lower classes said they’re unsure about Singson’s exposé that Estrada took P545 million in jueteng payola. Leaders of the multisectoral Kompil (Kongreso ng Mamamayang Pilipino) are intensifying nationwide rallies to make Estrada resign for losing moral ascendancy to rule. Even if acquitted of impeachment charges, they say, Estrada will not be able to restore confidence in his political and economic leadership. But Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s United Opposition anticipates Estrada to also intensify his counteroffensive that the impeachment case is a war between rich and poor. Arroyo also expects black propaganda to assail her credibility and link her as well to jueteng payola – if only to scare people from accepting her as constitutional successor in case Estrada resigns or is removed from office upon a Senate conviction.

The Left distrusts the impeachment process, saying that Estrada prefers it precisely because of its inherent weakness for legal maneuvers. Forever believing the Establishment to be corrupt, militant labor and farmer unions suspect that money will flow to let Estrada off the hook. For this reason, they’re banking instead on a nationwide strike in a week or two to make Estrada step down. At the very least, they aim the strike to drag indefinitely to convince congressmen and senators not to tinker around with the case.

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INTERACTION. Ben Ponce, home.com: Your piece about Erap trying to cut a deal (Gotcha, 6 Nov. 2000) is the best news I’ve read since the crisis began. I’m glad Filipinos are opting for moral regeneration by punishing erring officials.

William S. Tang, aol.com: GMA shouldn’t consider a deal with Erap just to become President. She must try to clean up the government. Otherwise, the same bloodsuckers around Erap will surround her.

Thank you, Emmanuel Asinas, Tomas Hocson, Bernie Mendoza, Karen de Jesus, Atty. Sonny Pulgar, Gras Reyes, Jameson Mappala, Angel Balauitan, Tomas Hocson, Bing Ramos, Manolo Montes, Ace Salenga, Tibo Acosta, Tosca Aldeguer, Joey Catama, Mira Castillo, Edmund Buaya, Ariel Rabe, Roberto Lopez, Willie Vicedo, Freddie Dacanay, Dr. Rey del Mundo, Jacob Solano, Coxy, Oscar Landicho, Virgil Ampil, Helen Limjoco, Benjie Tor, Ramon Mayuga, Al dela Pena, Rod Layco, Gene Bueno, Rey Aquino, Dr. Chester Tono, Bert Celera, Ting Caacbay, Elbert Herrera, and the hundreds of others who took time out to write. I’ll try to acknowledge you in future columns.

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