http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h8dj1vAZYXxwoa9B6m82cCRVAa7QD8SH3KN82
Philippine Ex-President Estrada Freed
By PAUL ALEXANDER
10-26-7
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Free for the first time in 6 1/2 years, ousted President Joseph Estrada thanked his successor for pardoning him and vowed Friday to stay out of "dirty politics" while dedicating the rest of his life to helping the poor.
The former action star's first hours of freedom played out live in national television like a scene from one of his old films, which won him legions of fans for his portrayals of underdog heroes.
Estrada's joyous release from house arrest was followed by a speech to thousands of cheering supporters in Manila's San Juan district, where he once served as mayor, then a bedside visit to his ailing 102-year-old mother and a dinner of his favorite foods. His wife said she was making rice cake and paella.
The question is: Will the man who won the biggest election landslide in Philippine history be able to avoid the temptation of being drafted back into politics by a disjointed opposition desperate for someone popular to rally around?
For a day at least, Estrada was happy to bask in adulation and follow the lead of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has shrugged off allegations of political opportunism and touted the pardon as a move toward reconciliation that was in the public's best interests.
"There is no substitute for freedom," the 70-year-old Estrada said before leaving his villa east of Manila, where he has spent most of his time in detention since his arrest three months after being forced out by the country's second "people power" revolt in January 2001.
Estrada was convicted last month on graft charges and given a life sentence. Arroyo pardoned him Thursday.
The pardon was greeted with a heavy dose of cynicism because of the timing — Arroyo is fighting a third impeachment attempt and calls for her resignation. State prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio said the pardon, especially so soon after the hard-fought conviction, amounted to a license to break the law.
Estrada, who has been one of Arroyo's chief critics over the past six years, sounded conciliatory for the first time since his ouster.
He thanked Arroyo, reiterated his wish to live the life of a "plain citizen" and, in a turnaround from previous attacks on the administration, urged his supporters to back Arroyo's programs to combat poverty and hunger.
"I am aware of the agonizing times and tough choices that Mrs. Arroyo has had to wade through before arriving at this executive decision," Estrada said.
Arroyo admitted that her decision was controversial, but said the pardon was aimed at ending "the single most significant cause of political noise and controversy" during her tumultuous time in office. She cited the pardons of former U.S. and South Korean presidents as precedents.
"In the end, we had to make a decision that was bound to please and displease, impress and confound, unite and divide," Arroyo said in a speech to businessmen.
Arroyo's spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, said the pardon restored Estrada's civil and political rights. However, a court ruling that confiscated Estrada's villa and more than $15.5 million in savings remained in effect.
More than 2,000 supporters, family and friends prepared a fiesta for Estrada's homecoming. Balloons and ribbons in orange — Estrada's campaign color — festooned the route of his lengthy motorcade, and he was mobbed as he got out of his vehicle.
While he admitted he made mistakes in office, Estrada denied corruption was among them. He claimed he twice turned down offers that he could avoid being charged if he left the country. Despite his conviction in court, he said he felt he had been acquitted by public opinion.
"I have no plan to rejoin dirty politics," he told the crowd chanting his name. "My remaining time will be offered in the service of our people."
Associated Press writers Oliver Teves, Teresa Cerojano, Jim Gomez and Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report.
Showing posts with label Joseph Estrada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joseph Estrada. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
From movie-star glamour to lonely life in detention
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/news/article_1354768.php
Asia-Pacific News
PROFILE: Estrada: From movie-star glamour to lonely life in detention
By John Grafilo
Sep 12, 2007
Manila - Ousted Philippine president Joseph Estrada waved and smiled to the media Wednesday as he was whisked out of a court building after being convicted of corruption and sentenced to life in prison.
The scene was different, however, inside one of the holding rooms for the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court when a grim-faced Estrada met with his tearful wife, daughter and other family members after the conviction.
'The whole family was crying,' said Congressman Rufus Rodriguez, a close ally of the 70-year-old former president. 'It felt like a wake inside.'
After spending most of his life in the limelight, having been a popular action-movie star before entering politics in the late 1960s, Estrada now faces a lonely life in jail, devoid of the glamour and glitter he has been so used to.
Despite being a high-school dropout and a self-confessed womanizer, gambler and drinker, Estrada was elected president in 1998 with the largest victory margin in the country's political history.
He credited his win to millions of impoverished Filipinos who idolized him for often portraying a poor underdog hero in his movies and for promising to lift them out of poverty.
Estrada's undiminished love affair with the Philippines' poor dates back to his early childhood when he would pilfer bread from his house in Manila's San Juan town and give it to his playmates in the slum area a few blocks away.
Born on April 19, 1937, Estrada is the eighth among 10 children from an upper middle-class family. Considered a black sheep by his relatives, he dropped out of school and pursued a career in films.
Throughout his awards-rich movie career, Estrada starred in films that were mostly about the struggle of the poor against the elite or the rise of an underdog.
Estrada's first foray into politics was in 1967 when he ran for mayor in his hometown of San Juan and lost, but he contested the results, and in 1969, the Supreme Court ruled he was the true winner in the race.
For the next 17 years, he held the post of mayor, winning re-elections and turning the town into a first-class municipality.
Estrada's political star shone brighter in 1987 when he ran and won a senatorial race, becoming one of only two opposition politicians who made it into the administration-dominated Senate.
Despite being derided for his 'carabao' English, or ungrammatical use of the language, Estrada continued his meteoric rise in politics when the man popularly known by the nickname 'Erap,' the Filipino word for friend spelled backward, was elected vice president in 1992.
In 1998, Estrada won election as president despite opposition from the influential Catholic Church, business groups and the country's political elite. He is the only elected Philippine president in recent times who was not accused of vote rigging.
During his presidency, which he called 'the greatest performance' of his life, Estrada did not hide his vices and was even known to hold 'midnight' meetings with advisers and friends, most of whom had shady backgrounds.
One of those friends, however, turned his back on Estrada and accused him of receiving millions of dollars in payoffs from illegal gambling operators and pocketing public funds.
The allegations led to Estrada's impeachment and later to his removal from office by a military-backed mass uprising in January 2001.
On Wednesday, the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court found Estrada guilty of plunder and sentenced him to life in prison for amassing about 4 billion pesos (87 million dollars) in illegal wealth.
With the conviction, Estrada is now barred from holding public office again.
Despite the verdict, the former president identified as among the most corrupt former leaders in the world insisted on his innocence.
'I am innocent of all the charges,' he said in a statement issued after the verdict. 'The prosecution miserably failed to prove its case. I am at peace with myself, notwithstanding the guilty verdict, because you my beloved countrymen have overwhelmingly acquitted me.'
Asia-Pacific News
PROFILE: Estrada: From movie-star glamour to lonely life in detention
By John Grafilo
Sep 12, 2007
Manila - Ousted Philippine president Joseph Estrada waved and smiled to the media Wednesday as he was whisked out of a court building after being convicted of corruption and sentenced to life in prison.
The scene was different, however, inside one of the holding rooms for the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court when a grim-faced Estrada met with his tearful wife, daughter and other family members after the conviction.
'The whole family was crying,' said Congressman Rufus Rodriguez, a close ally of the 70-year-old former president. 'It felt like a wake inside.'
After spending most of his life in the limelight, having been a popular action-movie star before entering politics in the late 1960s, Estrada now faces a lonely life in jail, devoid of the glamour and glitter he has been so used to.
Despite being a high-school dropout and a self-confessed womanizer, gambler and drinker, Estrada was elected president in 1998 with the largest victory margin in the country's political history.
He credited his win to millions of impoverished Filipinos who idolized him for often portraying a poor underdog hero in his movies and for promising to lift them out of poverty.
Estrada's undiminished love affair with the Philippines' poor dates back to his early childhood when he would pilfer bread from his house in Manila's San Juan town and give it to his playmates in the slum area a few blocks away.
Born on April 19, 1937, Estrada is the eighth among 10 children from an upper middle-class family. Considered a black sheep by his relatives, he dropped out of school and pursued a career in films.
Throughout his awards-rich movie career, Estrada starred in films that were mostly about the struggle of the poor against the elite or the rise of an underdog.
Estrada's first foray into politics was in 1967 when he ran for mayor in his hometown of San Juan and lost, but he contested the results, and in 1969, the Supreme Court ruled he was the true winner in the race.
For the next 17 years, he held the post of mayor, winning re-elections and turning the town into a first-class municipality.
Estrada's political star shone brighter in 1987 when he ran and won a senatorial race, becoming one of only two opposition politicians who made it into the administration-dominated Senate.
Despite being derided for his 'carabao' English, or ungrammatical use of the language, Estrada continued his meteoric rise in politics when the man popularly known by the nickname 'Erap,' the Filipino word for friend spelled backward, was elected vice president in 1992.
In 1998, Estrada won election as president despite opposition from the influential Catholic Church, business groups and the country's political elite. He is the only elected Philippine president in recent times who was not accused of vote rigging.
During his presidency, which he called 'the greatest performance' of his life, Estrada did not hide his vices and was even known to hold 'midnight' meetings with advisers and friends, most of whom had shady backgrounds.
One of those friends, however, turned his back on Estrada and accused him of receiving millions of dollars in payoffs from illegal gambling operators and pocketing public funds.
The allegations led to Estrada's impeachment and later to his removal from office by a military-backed mass uprising in January 2001.
On Wednesday, the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court found Estrada guilty of plunder and sentenced him to life in prison for amassing about 4 billion pesos (87 million dollars) in illegal wealth.
With the conviction, Estrada is now barred from holding public office again.
Despite the verdict, the former president identified as among the most corrupt former leaders in the world insisted on his innocence.
'I am innocent of all the charges,' he said in a statement issued after the verdict. 'The prosecution miserably failed to prove its case. I am at peace with myself, notwithstanding the guilty verdict, because you my beloved countrymen have overwhelmingly acquitted me.'
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