Tuesday, October 23, 2007 Erap drops ruling recon, seeks pardon
OUSTED president Joseph Estrada, jailed after a historic corruption conviction, said he has withdrawn his motion for reconsideration with the Sandiganbayan and is seeking presidential pardon.
“I don’t stand a chance of being acquitted in the courts,” Estrada told the Associated Press by telephone, adding he would go straight to the hospital to visit his ailing mother if released.
The move was confirmed by Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devana-dera, who announced receipt of a letter by Estrada’s lawyer Jose Flaminiano asking President Arroyo to grant “full, free and unconditional pardon” to the former president.
Flaminiano said that their “consensus” is that “there is a very slim chance that the Sandiganbayan will reconsider its original guilty verdict” because Presiding Justice Teresita de Castro was quoted in a media interview as saying that the Special Division “stands by its original verdict.”
The anti-graft court convicted Estrada last Sept. 12 of plunder and sentenced to him to reclusion perpetua, which carries a jail term of between 20 to 40 years.
The former president earlier said he would never seek a pardon.
He was accused of taking P545.29 million as his cut from jueteng operations from November 1998 to August 2000. About P200 million was also allegedly deposited in the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation, which Estrada had lawyer Edward Serapio reportedly put up.
The Sandiganbayan sent him to his rest house in Tanay, Rizal under house arrest. Estrada was also ordered to forfeit a mansion and more than P731 million, plus interest.
Flaminiano said that a denial of the motion for reconsideration would have led to the filing of an appeal with the Supreme Court and the transfer of Estrada to the National Penitentiary.
That could have generated bad feelings on the part of many Filipinos, which would be “disastrous for the nation,” he said.
“I will accept an absolute or unconditional pardon without any conditions,” Estrada told Agence France Presse in another telephone interview.
“I will never admit I am guilty. I have been in detention for six years and went to the court. I could have left the country, but I did not.”
Devanadera, meanwhile, said in an ABS-CBN report that her staff still needs to find out whether the withdrawal petition has already been filed before the Sandiganbayan and how it acted on it.
She said the only role of the justice department is to establish the “legal components” of the planned withdrawal but it is up to the President to decide whether to grant Estrada pardon or not.
“We would like to see the copy of the withdrawal that was mentioned in this letter. That is very important to us because we must be able to determine whether the decision of the Sandiganbayan has become final,” she told ABS-CBN.
Flaminiano noted that the entire appeal process may take more than 10 years and although the defense panel is confident of getting a reversal, “an acquittal after more than 10 years in detention is unjust.”
“The time has come to end President Estrada’s fight for justice and vindication before the courts. President Estrada himself believes that appeal to the Supreme Court would be futile for even the possibility of a favorable judgment will not justify several more years of detention,” he said.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno welcomed Estrada’s move saying, “It can help lower the political temperature.”
Malacañang recently authorized Puno to hold talks with Estrada on a possible pardon, but the effort stalled after Estrada decided to appeal his corruption conviction, which legally barred Arroyo from issuing a pardon.
Flaminiano said Estrada often worries about the condition of his mother, 102-year-old Doña Mary Ejercito, whose health deteriorated when the former president was deposed during a popular uprising in January 2001.
“Knowing that he (Estrada) is a free man should be one of the last thoughts, a recuerdo, she should carry when she goes to her final resting place, in total serenity,” he said. (AP/AFP/Sunnex)
