Estrada's mansions attract government scrutiny

The once famous "Boracay Home" of former President Joseph Estrada, named after the famous white sand beach in Aklan, is now a shadow of its former self with graffiti on its gate and signs of stones thrown by angry mobs.

"The fence around the place was made higher," said a caretaker, adding that from the outside, the roof of the house in suburban Quezon City's posh New Manila could not be seen.

"The government had to enforce extra protection for the place because it has become a tourist attraction for those who wanted to hate him," said the caretaker.

The place, allegedly owned by his second mistress, former actress Laarni Enriquez, was called Boracay (after the famous white sand beach in Aklan, central Philippines), because of its swimming pool with artificial waves and white sand.

The windows of the Boracay house could simulate summer, winter or fall, sources said. The caretaker claimed he does not know how to operate the changing seasons of the "famous windows".

Estrada and his mistress denied owning the house, but government prosecutors who went there last March found the names of the President's three children by Enriquez - Jerika, Jake, and Jacob - on the spaces where their bedrooms were to be built on the second floor of the unfinished house.

The government prosecutors got their evidence from a furniture layout prepared by Steven J. Leach Associates, a U.S.-based interior designer hired by Estrada.

The discovery of Estrada's Boracay mansion in 2000 led to a string of palatial homes which he allegedly bought with millions of pesos that came from influence peddlers and illegal gambling lords. He had several secret bank accounts, which he allegedly used to launder his illegally acquired money.

Estrada, his family members and associates allegedly bought 17 pieces of choice property in Metro Manila, southern suburban Tagaytay, and northern Luzon's Baguio City.

Estrada's 14 properties in Metro Manila were assessed at P2 billion ($37.7 million); the two log cabins in Baguio City and two other log cabins in Tagaytay Highlands were estimated at P250 million ($4.7 million).

Estrada's daughter Jacqueline Ejercito and her husband Manuel Lopez did not have a chance to stay at the 3,000-square-meter lot at 518 Buendia Street in Makati's Forbes Park. The house that was about to be completed there is now "like a house of ghosts", said observers.

A two-storey, four-bedroom house on a 3,000-square metre lot at 2, Molave Corner Banaba Streets in South Forbes, remained unfinished. It was intended for Estrada's second wife, Guia Gomez, and her son Jose Victor "JV" Ejercito, now the mayor of San Juna.

Contractors said the Forces Park mansion was designed to have a steel-panelled, vinyl-lined swimming pool" and a four-car basement garage. The Forbes Park property was estimated at P150 million ($2.8 million).

Enriquez seemed to be Estrada's favourite mistress. When he became president in 1998, he asked contractors to make a mansion on a 2,800 square metre floor area for her at 796-800 Harvard St. in Wack-Wack, suburban San Juan. The house remained unfinished, and it is now "like a gory dream of a very ambitious man," said on observer.

The house was supposed to have 350-square-metre public area on the ground floor; a 255 square metre master bedroom with a master lounge, walk-in-closets, a 90-square-metre bathroom with a giant Jacuzzi, a sauna, and a massage room.

The house was designed with a 90 square metre kitchen, a 153 square metre family theatre; and a big balcony. The land was estimated at P192 million ($3.6 million) and the house at P90 million ($1.7 million)

All of Estrada's palaces will be like "modern ruins" because the government cannot touch them until the $78 million plunder case filed against him is resolved at the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court.

They will be like the mansions that were built by former First Lady Imelda Marcos while her husband remained in power from 1965 until his ouster in 1986.

The discovery of Estrada's palaces also resulted in the discovery of the companies and people involved in his allegedly illegally accrued wealth.

Marcos was ousted by a people-backed military mutiny in 1986. Estrada was taken out of office by a military-backed street protests that were launched by those who were outraged by the abrupt ending of his impeachment trial in the Senate in late 2000.27_house.jpgEstrada's ancestral house in Laguna. ©Gulf News