Septuagenarian Notes: CHAPTER 7 'EDSA DOS,' 'EDSA TRES' (LAST OF TWO PARTS)

 Nota Bene: This chapter is still tentative as I have to complete it and include the endnotes. But i nevertheless shows the events that have led to two historical cataclysms - EDSA Dos and EDSA Tres.

Continuation of Chapter 7:

CORRUPTION ISSUES. Not everything was a bed of roses for Estrada. He paid dearly for his acts of corruption. Two years into his incumbency, cracks in his leadership developed and showed. As expected, they were about corruption. On Oct. 4, 2000, then Ilocos Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson, Estrada’s friend and political ally, broke away from him and accused Estrada of planning to ambush him on the prodding of Charlie Ang, another friend, whom  Erap Estrada favored in the operations of gambling in certain provinces. Press reports said hordes of police officers stopped Singson’s bullet proof car in a dark portion of a major thoroughfare in Manila.

Singson claimed it was a setup for ambush, but it did not push through because police officers at the scene did not recognize him. Moreover, he did not step out of his protected bullet-proof car. Because of the incident, Singson went public and accused Estrada of corruption, saying that he and his friends and family had received a total of P545 million from operations of jueteng, an illegal numbers game. His exposé triggered a political backlash. It was the start of a steep decline of Estrada’s popularity.

According to Singson, he and Estrada were friends since the 1960s. He was mayor of San Juan, then a town east of Manila and part of the Rizal province, while Singson was a councilor of the Ilocos Sur capital city of Vigan. Their friendship, Singson said, “deepened” when he became governor of Ilocos Sur in 1972. They became drinking buddies. Estrada was the godfather of one of Singson’s children. In return, he was the godfather of one of Estrada’s children. They were political allies too. Singson claimed that he supported Estrada in the 1998 presidential elections. Estrada won 63% of votes in his province.

When asked why he went against Estrada, Singson said: “He betrayed me. He was using me as his collector for his jueteng payoffs. After using me, he disregarded me. He gave the Bingo Two-Ball [franchise] in my province to Eric Singson, who is my political enemy and whom I defeated in the 1998 gubernatorial election. What face can I show in my province? I value true friendship. Estrada is not a true friend.”

When asked when and how he became Estrada’s bagman, Singson said: “It began right after he took over the presidency in July 1998. I was called to the house at Polk Street [in Greenhills, Estrada's home in suburban San Juan], together with Charlie ‘Atong’ Ang and businessman Bong Pineda [alleged jueteng lord of Pampanga province, north of Manila]. Atong was to take over jueteng operations in the country and would give money to the president. But then he and the president had a falling out over sugar allocations. President Estrada instructed me to take over Atong's duties. From November 1998 to August this year, I collected P545 million from jueteng operators in Luzon.

“Of that, I personally delivered [nearly $4.3 million] to the president. I brought the money in attache cases that I would drop beside the president's chair inside his office at Malacanang. The balance of my collections, totaling [also about $4.3 million], was deposited in my bank account. The deposits were later transferred to the bank accounts of [Estrada's] accountant and auditor, Yolanda Ricaforte. Sometime this year, the president instructed Ricaforte to transfer [that $4.3 million] to a designated account of his choice.”

When asked why he and Estrada had a fallout, Singson said: “Atong badmouthed me before the president because he wanted to regain his closeness to Estrada. Atong claimed I was skimming the money I was collecting for the president. How could I do that when the president himself assigned an auditor to me? Atong promised to deliver billions [of pesos] if he were to take charge of the entire Bingo Two-Ball operations. The president became the victim of his own greed.”

The following day, then Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona, Jr. delivered his “I Accuse” privilege speech accusing Estrada of receiving ₱220 million in jueteng money from Singson from Nov. 1998 to Aug. 2000, and taking ₱70 million in excise tax money from cigarettes intended for Ilocos Sur. He allegedly received ₱130 million in kickbacks released by then budget secretary Benjamin Diokno for tobacco farmers, while his wife Eloisa Ejercito's foundation allegedly received ₱100 million "to the detriment of regular beneficiaries."

These were not all for the former movie actor. Estrada allegedly misused 52 smuggled luxury vehicles, and allegedly hid assets and bought mansions for his mistresses. The privilege speech was referred by then Senate President Franklin Drilon to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and the House of Representatives Committee on Justice for joint probe. Another committee in the House of Representatives decided to investigate the exposé, while other House members spearheaded a move to impeach the president. On Oct. 20, 2000, an early anti-Estrada rally was held in Naga City, led by former mayor Jesse Robredo, Mayor Sulpicio Roco Jr., and Ateneo de Naga president Joel Tabora, who demanded his resignation.

More calls for resignation came from Manila Cardinal Archbishop Jaime Sin, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos, and Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (who had resigned her cabinet position of Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development). Cardinal Sin's statement read, "In the light of the scandals that besmirched the image of presidency, in the last two years, we stand by our conviction that he has lost the moral authority to govern." More resignations came from Estrada's Cabinet and economic advisers, while other members of Congress defected from his ruling party.

On Nov. 13, 2000, the House of Representatives led by then Speaker Manuel Villar transmitted the Articles of Impeachment, signed by 115 representatives, to the Senate. This caused shakeups in the leadership of both chamber of Congress. Camarines Sur Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella replaced Villar as speaker. The impeachment trial was formally opened on Nov. 20, with twenty-one senators taking their oaths as judges, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. presiding. The trial began on Dec. 7, 2000.

The day-to-day trial was covered on live television and received the highest viewership rating, mostly by the broadcasting giant ABS-CBN at the time. Among the highlights of the trial was the testimony of Clarissa Ocampo, then senior vice president of Equitable PCI Bank, who testified that she was a foot away from Estrada when he signed the name "Jose Velarde" on documents involving a ₱500 million investment agreement with the bank in Feb. 2, 2000.

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‘EDSA DOS’

THE four-day Second EDSA Revolution, dubbed as “EDSA Dos,” started on Jan. 17, 2001 and ended four days later. It peacefully overthrew  Estrada as president and installed his vice president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as successor. The EDSA Dos effectively preempted Estrada’s impeachment trial in the Senate. Allegations of corruption earlier prospered against Estrada, prompting the House of Representatives to impeach him. The articles of impeachment were brought in the Senate for subsequent trial on Jan. 16. But the decision by several senators not to examine a letter allegedly proving Estrada's guilt sparked large protests at the EDSA Shrine along the EDSA thoroughfare.

The protests intensified as various groups called for his resignation on the succeeding days. On Jan. 19, the Armed Forces of the Philippines withdrew its support to Estrada, who was also its Commander-in-Chief. The Philippine National Police (PNP), under the leadership of a subaltern – Gen. Panfilo Lacson- also did the same withdrawal of support. On Jan. 20, Estrada resigned and fled Malacañang with his family. Macapagal Arroyo was sworn in on the same day as his replacement by Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr.

The major antecedent for EDSA Dos was Estrada’s impeachment trial. His camp moved to stop on Jan. 16 the probe of an envelope allegedly containing evidence to prove corruption acts by Estrada. Pro-Estrada senators moved to block the evidence. The conflict between the senator-judges and the prosecution became deeper, but then Majority Leader Francisco Tatad requested the impeachment court to have a vote on the opening of the second envelope. The vote resulted in ten senators favoring its opening and examining the evidence, and 11 senators favoring to suppress it.

The senators who voted to open the second envelope were: Rodolfo Biazon; Renato Cayetano; Franklin Drilon; Juan Flavier; Teofisto Guingona Jr.; Loren Legarda; Ramon Magsaysay Jr.; Sergio Osmeña III;  Aquilino Pimentel Jr.; and Raul Roco. Opposed were:  Teresita Aquino-Oreta; Nikki Coseteng; Miriam Defensor Santiago; Juan Ponce Enrile; Gregorio Honasan; Robert Jaworski; Blas Ople; John Henry Osmeña; Ramon Revilla Sr.; Tito Sotto;  and Francisco Tatad.

After the vote, Aquilino Pimentel Jr. resigned as Senate president and walked out of the impeachment proceedings together with the nine opposition senators and 11 prosecutors in the Estrada impeachment trial. The 11 administration senators who voted to block the opening of the second envelope remained in the Senate session hall together with members of the defense panel. The following timeline occured to culminate in EDSA Dos.

Day 1: Jan. 17, 2001: Senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta, one of11 senators voted against opening the envelope but was visible on national TV, as the opposition senators walked out of the Senate hall. She booed her colleagues and jigged at the crowd in the Senate gallery after the Ayala group jeered her and other pro-Estrada senators. It fueled the growing anti-Estrada sentiment of the crowd, which gathered at EDSA Shrine. Oreta was the most vilified of the 11 senators. As he did in the EDSA 1, the influential Manila Prelate Jaime Cardinal Sin called on the people to join the rally at the shrine. At night, people gathered in large numbers at the shrine.

Day 2: Jan. 18, 2001: The crowd grew, bolstered by students from private schools and left-wing organizations. Activists from the left-wing Bayan Muna and Akbayan and lawyers of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and other bar associations joined the protesters. A parallel anti-Estrada rally occurred in Makati. Several icons from the music industry came and entertained the vast crowds.

Day 3: Jan. 19, 2001: The PNP and AFP withdrew support for Estrada, their Commander-in-Chief. Their officials joined the crowd at the EDSA Shrine. By 2 pm, Estrada appeared on TV for the first time time since the start of the protests and said he would not resign. He claimed he wanted the impeachment trial to proceed, saying only a guilty verdict would remove him from office. By 6:15 pm, Estrada appeared on TV again and called for a snap presidential elections to be held concurrently with the midterm elections on May 14, 2001. He claimed he would not run.

Day 4: Jan. 20, 2001: By 12:30 pm, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took her oath as president before Davide before the EDSA crowd. At the same time, a huge anti-Estrada crowd gathered at the Mendiola Bridge near Malacanang. There was heckling between the anti and pro-Estrada crowds there but police there stopped its escalation into violent confrontation. By 2 pm, Estrada released a letter saying his "strong and serious doubts about the legality and constitutionality of Arroyo’s proclamation as president." In that same letter, he refused to give up his office to allow for national reconciliation.

Later, Estrada and his family evacuated Malacañang Palace on a boat along the Pasig River. They were smiling and waving to reporters and shaking hands with the remaining Cabinet members and Palace employees. He was initially placed under house arrest in San Juan, but was later transferred to his rest home in Sampaloc, a small village in Tanay, Rizal.

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CONSTITUTIONALITY ISSUE

ESTRADA’S ouster and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s oath-taking to take over the presidency was the subject of two questions raised before the Supreme Court asking the constitutionality of the twin moves. On Mar. 2, 2001, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Estrada's resignation in a unanimous 13-0 decision in Estrada vs. Desierto.

The ponencia of Justice Reynato Puno sustained the admissibility of the Angara Diary. Relying heavily on a diary published in a newspaper, a press statement issued after Arroyo”s  oath taking, and the departure of the Estrada family from Malacañang Palace after the oath taking, the Court concluded that President Estrada had resigned.

In the April 3, 2001 resolution, the Court enumerated prior events that built up the irresistible pressure for President Estrada to resign:

1) the expose of Governor Luis Singson on Oct. 4, 2000;

2) the “I Accuse” speech of then Senator Teofisto Guingona in the Senate;

3) the joint investigation of the speech of Senator Guingona by the Blue Ribbon Committee and the Committee on Justice;

4) the investigation of the Singson expose by the House Committee on Public Order and Security;

5) the move to impeach President Estrada in the House of Representatives;

6) the pastoral Letter of Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin demanding Estrada’s resignation;

7) a similar demand by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP);

 8) similar demands for Estrada’s resignation by former Presidents Aquino and

Ramos;

9) the resignation of then Vice-President Arroyo as DSWD Secretary;

10) the resignation of the members of the Presidential Council of Senior Economic Advisers and of DTI Secretary Mar Roxas;

11) the defection of then Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Manuel Villar and 47 representatives from the President’s LAMP coalition;

12) the transmission of the Articles of Impeachment by Speaker Villar to the Senate;

13) the unseating of Senator Drilon as Senate President and of Representative Villar as Speaker of the House;

14) the impeachment trial;

15) the testimonies of Clarissa Ocampo and former Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu in the

impeachment trial;

16) the 11-10 vote of the senator-judges denying the prosecutor’s motion to open the second

envelope which allegedly contained evidence showing that Estrada held a PhP 3.3 billion deposit in a secret bank account under the name “Jose Velarde”;

17) the prosecutor walk out and resignation;

18) the indefinite postponement of the impeachment proceedings to give a chance to the House of Representatives to resolve the issue of resignation of their prosecutors;

19) the rally in the EDSA Shrine and its intensification in various parts of the country;

20) the withdrawal of support of then DND Secretary Orlando Mercado and the chiefs of all the armed services;

21) the same withdrawal of support by then PNP Director General Panfilo Lacson and the major service commanders;

22) the stream of resignations by Cabinet members, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and bureau of the President during the events that led to his fall from power.

‘AUTHORITATIVE WINDOW.’ This statement alone has given rise to criticisms against the Court’s reasons. According to then Sen. Francisco Tatad, for the Court to claim that the diary was an “authoritative window on the state of mind” of the President was to assume a power not granted to it by law by Providence or by its professional expertise. Psychology - especially one practiced at a distance - is not the Court’s field of competence, he said. On Sept. 12, 2007, Estrada was found guilty of plunder beyond reasonable doubt by the Sandiganbayan, Philippine anti-graft court, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Arroyo pardoned him on Oct. 25, 2007.

The international and local reactions to the change of leadership were mixed. Some countries, particularly the U. S, its chief ally, immediately accepted and recognized the legitimacy of Arroyo's presidency. Other nations took distance because they noted that it was a “de facto coup.” Only the Supreme Court decision seemed to appease the criticisms, as it said that "the welfare of the people is the supreme law."

Estrada’s immediate predecessor, former President Fidel Ramos, while accepting the change of leadership, averred that changing presidents should not be the emerging dominant political culture in the country. There should be stability in a president’s tenure even if there are serious disagreements in his leadership, he said.

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‘EDSA TRES’

SUPPORTERS of deposed President Joseph Estrada initiated a seven-day nightly protest actions on the same historic highway that led to two previous leadership changes. From April 25 to May 1, Estrada’s supporters of several hundreds or thousands protested nightly along EDSA for his ouster. Their nocturnal protest actions culminated on May 1, 2001 in a nearly ten-kilometer march to Malacanang. It led to a riot that bordered on a black comedy.

Taking place four months after the fateful EDSA Dos, the nocturnal protests were more populist when compared to the previous protest demonstrations in the same location in Jan., 2001. The protests and attacks on Malacanang, however, failed in their objectives to unseat Macapagal-Arroyo and restore Estrada to power. Participants claimed it was a genuine People Power revolt, a claim disputed by the participants and supporters of EDSA Dos.

Then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo acknowledged the divisive nature of the two uprisings.  “EDSA Tres,” as climax of events a few days before its occurence, probably started on April 24, 2001, when the Sandiganbayan ordered Estrada’s arrest, his son Jinggoy Estrada, then San Juan mayor, gambling consultant Charlie "Atong" Ang, and lawyer Edward Serapio over charges of plunder and graft. As early as 6:00 am of the following day, about 300 police officers stood to arrest Estrada. The police officers were headed by then PNP chief Leandro Mendoza along with soldiers from the Philippine Marine and the PNP Special Action Force in seven vehicles and five buses.

About 2,000 loyal supporters of Estrada went to Estrada’s Greenhills residence in San Juan to block the arresting police and military men. The PNP were claimed to forcibly airlift Estrada if the arresting officers could not enter the subdivision, as his loyal supporters blocked them with human barricades. At 2:00 pm, the situation between police and supporters became tense when anti-riot personnel approached the human barricades. At first, they withdrew but by 3 pm, the police aborted the operation as the Sandiganbayan did not issue the warrant for Estrada's arrest.

The Sandiganbayan issued the arrest order at noon of April 25. By 3:00 pm, court-appointed sheriff Ed Urieta with support from 2,000 police officers, and Philippine Marine soldiers served the arrest warrant.  The arresting team took the two Estradas to a detention center at Camp Crame. After Estrada and son Jinggoy were processed and put into a cell, Estrada released a statement maintaining his innocence and denouncing the Arroyo government's efforts to persecute him as a "violation of his human rights," calling Filipinos to "witness this denial of justice and mockery of the Bill of Rights." These pushed his supporters to conduct the week-long nocturnal protest actions.

On the night of April 30, the nightly protest action turned violent, as anti-riot police fired warning shots and tear gas on the protesters. The protesters, probably high on illegal drugs, marched to Malacanang, but failed to get inside of the Palace. A riot ensued between the protesters and the combined contingents of police officers and Presidential Security Battalion, culminating in many injuries and death for two police officers.  The May 1 march to Malacanang appeared to be an insurrection to remove Arroyo from the presidency and reinstate Estrada.

Protesters torched broadcast vans of ABS-CBN, while other protesters attacked the police and soldiers with rocks, sticks, and pipes. The police and military forces withdrew their "maximum tolerance" policy, while Arroyo declared a state of rebellion in Metro Manila and arrested leaders like Enrile, but the court released them on bail.

She lifted the notice of rebellion on May 7, 2001, as the supposed insurrection fizzled. Unlike EDSA Uno and EDSA Dos, EDSA Tres was characterized by destruction and vandalism of public utilities, torching of media equipment particularly ABS-CBN’s , and attacks on stores along protest march routes.

EDSA Tres critics argued it was not a major protest, although it was patterned from the two EDSA past upheavals. It failed, plain and simple, as it did not generate the support of a critical mass of citizens to remove a sitting president. It was not a political upheaval to advance the cause of democracy in the country. On the contrary, it was intended to protest the selfish agenda of a scandal plagued government of Joseph Estrada.