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Saturday, March 20, 2004
Erap out, visits mom in hospital
MANILA -- Deposed president Joseph Estrada was out of detention Friday after the Sandiganbayan granted him a 36-hour reprieve to visit his ailing mother in a hospital in San Juan.
Malacanang was quick to deny allegations by presidential aspirant Panfilo Lacson that the 36-hour reprieve granted to Estrada was tinted with politics.
Estrada, a former top movie star, was taken by a tightly guarded convoy from his detention center in a police camp outside Manila to the hospital where his 99-year-old mother is being treated.
Television reports showed a beaming Estrada alighting from a vehicle at the hospital in his old bailiwick of San Juan province. A throng of supporters, some of whom had waited for four hours, mobbed him at the hospital entrance, forcing police to hold them back.
Chief Superintendent Rolando Sacramento said the trip was delayed slightly when Estrada's vehicle experienced mechanical problems, forcing the security men to transfer him to a back-up vehicle.
Reporters were briefly allowed into the hospital to see Estrada greet his mother, Mary Ejercito.
"Are you happy now that I am here?" he was heard asking her as he embraced her on the hospital bed.
Family doctor Lorenzo Jocson said Estrada's mother had shown improvement since she learned her son would be visiting her.
A special anti-graft court trying Estrada had given him permission to temporarily leave detention for 36 hours but placed numerous restrictions on his movements, for example barring him from giving press interviews and from meeting with his political supporters.
Estrada's visit comes on the heels of a heated debate that erupted this month when it was revealed that the government was allowing Estrada to briefly leave his detention center for visits to a vacation home.
President Arroyo defended Estrada's "field trips", saying they were permitted for humanitarian reasons and as a sop to the poor, who still see the deposed leader as their hero.
Speaking on a campaign sortie, Arroyo said there was no political agenda in her concessions to Estrada and remarked that despite her actions, Estrada continued to criticize her as corrupt and was actively endorsing her opposition rival candidate, Fernando Poe, in the May 10 elections.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Malacaņang had nothing to do with the Sandiganbayan's decision although they respect and agree with it.
He added that if politics were involved, then Estrada would have been supporting and even endorsing Arroyo's candidacy by now.
Bunye said they are happy with the Sandiganbayan decision, which is consistent with the policy of President Arroyo to extend humane treatment to Estrada.
Estrada arrived late Friday morning at the San Juan Medical Center to visit his 98-year-old mother Doņa Mary Ejercito, who is reportedly suffering from Parkinson's disease, an erratic blood pressure and stomach ailments.
He would return to his detention cell in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal at 5 p.m. Saturday.
The former President had been asking the Sandiganbayan to allow him to regularly visit and check up on his mother, whom he said is frequently getting sick.
Arroyo said the continued support and endorsement of Estrada of the candidacy of his bosom friend Fernando Poe Jr. only proves that there were no political deals between her and her predecessor.
"That just shows that Estrada is still with the opposition and there's no political deal between us. I think that's the most important thing to be said there," said Arroyo in a press conference in Victorias City in Negros Occidental.
She, however, cried foul over the supposed referral of Estrada to her administration as corrupt.
Estrada has called for his supporters to vote for Poe, whom he said is for the poor and sincere in his desire to "reform a corrupt government."
"Well I can only say to Mr. Estrada, while I'm very kind to him in terms of humanitarian reasons, I can only answer, Look who's talking," she said.
Estrada was toppled in a popular uprising spawned by a massive corruption scandal in 2001.
He is being tried on charges of plundering a personal fortune of about 80 million dollars during his 30 months in office.JMR with AFP
(March 20, 2004 issue)
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