Outrage at leniency towards Estrada

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been criticised for her perceived leniency towards former president Joseph Estrada, although she has not reacted to those who believe her compassion has a political agenda - to get more opposition senators to her side for control of the upper house of Congress.

"No one is above the law. Giving the former president special treatment is like saying there is favouritism, not justice, in Philippines law," said Satur Ocampo, head of the winning leftist party-list, Nation First, who threatened to launch an "avalanche of protests."

"We will go to the Supreme Court if necessary to pressure authorities to send Estrada back to his detention cell in Sta Rosa, Laguna (southern Luzon)," stated lawyer Leonard de Vera. "President Arroyo should have just kept quiet and acknowledged that the judiciary is independent of the executive branch."

"She has pressured the Sandiganbayan regarding the former president's request for house arrest," claimed De Vera, a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, which had filed corruption charges against Estrada at the Ombudsman's office.

"The former president should not be given special privileges. It sends the wrong signals," said Teddy Casino of the leftist Bayan, which supported Arroyo during the anti-Estrada protest rallies that led to his ouster on January 20.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto hinted that Arroyo's plan was to give Estrada a vacation house, not a jail on the pretext of the hospital grounds. "Justice knows no politics. There is no vested interest to reconcile and there is no reconciliation to achieve," noted Desierto. "There is no precedent in peace time for someone charged with plunder to be held under house arrest," he added, vowing to continue blocking Estrada's pleading.

The resolution of the issue depends on the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court, said Justice Secretary Hernando Perez. Estrada's son. J.V., has accused Arroyo of being "cold-hearted" and a "lack of sincerity" in her propositions, claiming that what she has done was for "media consumption".

Apart from allowing Estrada house arrest in a specially erected bungalow on the grounds of the Veterans Memorial Hospital in suburban Quezon City, Arroyo also waged a pro-Estrada blitz by condemning a former member of the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), who sold Estrada's mug shots during his arrest for plunder on April 25.

"Investigation revealed that an official of the defunct PAOCTF used a hidden camera in recording Estrada's processing at the National Police headquarters in Camp Crame. In fact, we were avoiding having shots of him taken," said Arroyo in an interview with Financial Times, the transcript of which was sent to Gulf News.

"It was unfortunate that the shots of the former president were shown on television. The government would never have allowed it," said Arroyo. In her speech during the first meeting of Young Asian Women at the University of the Philippines, Arroyo pleaded: "Help me, volunteers, heal our nation. Help me go to the slums of Metro Manila and do our healing there."

"She has been using a pro-poor campaign in an effort to get Estrada's supporters," alleged Ernesto Maceda, former ambassador to the US. Sources said Arroyo was also open to the proposal that the trial of Estrada should be carried out at the Veterans Memorial Hospital.

Meanwhile, defence lawyers have been filing their arguments for Estrada's house arrest. "If he is in Quezon City, we can always contact him regarding resolution of his cases," said lawyer Rene Saguisag.