By Ronron
November 3, 2007
Former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada clarified on Saturday that his acceptance of the Presidential pardon last October 26 from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo does not mean he admits to being guilty of plunder.
Speaking before a crowd of Tondo residents in Manila City, Estrada reiterated that he is innocent of the plunder charge of which he was found guilty by the Sandiganbayan last September 12 after several years of court hearings.
“If ever I accepted that pardon, it does not mean I am confessing to having committed the charge. I am innocent,” Estrada said in Filipino before some 500 residents of Tondo District.
“I would have accepted already the offer twice before of then Justice Secretary (Hernani) Perez for me to leave the country (immediately after I was unseated in January 2001) if I was guilty of anything… But I opted to be jailed for six years and six months, and I endured that so I could convey to them the message that I will face all their accusations against me,” he added.
It was just unfortunate, Estrada lamented, that the justice system in the country was already designed to convict him even from the start. “I knew I have no chance of winning but I still faced the charges,” he said.
Estrada said that if he was guilty of any irregularity during his term as President from 1998, it would definitely not include plunder or corruption.
“Not even a single centavo have I stolen from the national coffer. In fact, maybe, it’s time now that I tell you that from the time I became Mayor (of San Juan) until I became a Senator, Vice President and President, I did not receive my salary. Nobody knew about it. I put all my salary to the Erap Para sa Mahirap (Erap for the Poor) Scholarship Foundation, which, now has produced more than 9,000 college graduates,” he said.
Aside from a sentence of lifetime imprisonment, the Sandiganbayan Special Division also ordered Estrada when it handed down its verdict for him to return more than P500 million worth of properties and funds to the government as they were found to be illegally obtained by him.
But the crowd that welcomed Estrada yesterday at Tondo apparently are not convinced, based on their repetitive chant that he is “innocent.”
To this, Estrada said: “I cannot find the appropriate words to express to you my heartfelt gratitude for your prayers and continued support for me.”
He said he will forever be indebted to the Filipino masses who supported him from his mayoralty days until he lost power. In particular, he called the people of Tondo as his real fellow citizens because he was born at the Mary’s Child Hospital in Tondo.
“Before all Filipinos, before God, I come before you with all strength and look at you straight in the eye, to tell you that despite all the allegations against me, I am innocent,” Estrada bravely told the crowd.
In a separate speech, Manila City Mayor Alfredo Lim said Estrada only availed of the Presidential pardon because he wanted to spend time with his ailing mother who had been confined at the San Juan Medical Center for a few months now due to some illness.
“We should put in mind what he (Estrada) did – that a person who loves his /her mother, his/her parents is an honorable person whom we should emulate. That is President Erap,” said Lim, who is a close ally of the deposed leader.
To give back, Estrada promised the masses of his continued programs for them, like his education scholarship project, even if he is no longer in power.
In fact, his attendance yesterday in Tondo was to support the medical mission of his wife, former Senator Luisa “Loi” Estrada.
“He said he wanted to see our medical mission to find out how he could help. So I invited him to come here because the people also want to see him… Before, we used to do this twice a month. But he said he wanted us to do this everyday. But of course, I told him I can’t do that, it would be too tiring,” Mrs. Estrada, who is a medical doctor, said in an interview at the mission site.
The medical mission yesterday was attended by more or less 20 medical doctors and nurses, and provided not only free consultation but medicines as well.
The mission was able to provide services to over a thousand residents of Tondo.
Aside from assuring the masses of his services, the former President also reminded the youth of Tondo to veer away from using illegal drugs.
“Let us closely look after the drug addicts. This (drugs problem) will destroy the future of our youth. As our national hero Jose Rizal said, the hope of our country lies in the youth. So if our youth is hooked to drugs, then the future of our country will crumble,” Estrada said.
Joining Estrada in his visit to Tondo other than Lim are Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, former Senator Ernesto Maceda, Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco, and Senator Jinggoy Estrada./DMS
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