Estrada to get new ‘home’ at Veterans

A new house on hospital grounds for healing and reconciliation.

President Arroyo has ordered the construction at the Veterans’ Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) compound of a brand-new detention bungalow appropriate for former President Joseph Estrada, saying a period for healing was well nigh after crucial, violence-wracked polls.

"We are putting up an annex at the (VMMC) hospital that would be more appropriate for a former president so that he would be more comfortable," Mrs. Arroyo said in radio interview.

"It would be like a small compound with a house and a reception cottage," she said, stressing that constructing a new detention bungalow would be better for Estrada’s health and security.

The President said this was among the things that she discussed with the jailed ex-president when he visited him at the hospital on Saturday.

The gesture was Mrs. Arroyo’s signal for a need for healing following the most hotly contested elections in years, wherein the body count piled up and administration and opposition camps traded accusations of fraud and cheating.

"It’s time that we have unity in our country. We have to heal the wounds of the past year," she said over radio station dzRH. "The healing should start from the top."

Mrs. Arroyo noted that intense rivalry between her party and that of Estrada’s opposition coalition had caused "division" among Filipinos that needed to be addressed immediately.

Although Estrada appeared healthier after shedding some weight, Mrs. Arroyo said Estrada’s physicians said he was clinically depressed due to the prospect of returning to his detention bungalow at Fort Sto. Domingo, a police training camp in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

She said the doctors "are prepared to issue a certification that it’s much better for his health to stay in the hospital" because he would likely get sick again if he is returned to Fort Sto. Domingo.

"I noticed he lost weight," the President said of her predecessor’s condition since he was jailed with his son San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada for plunder late last month.

VMMC medical director Salvador Flores asked authorities to allow the Estradas to stay at the VMMC for two or three more weeks, especially since Estrada’s X-ray findings show minor health problems that need medical attention.

"He would then be moving back and forth to the hospital, so it would be better if he stays there for a while," Mrs. Arroyo said, adding the PNP would set appropriate security arrangements.

Estrada and son were airlifted on May 12 to the VMMC to undergo medical check-ups. The ex-president was diagnosed with acute bronchitis while Jinggoy was said to have liver problems.

In an interview with the British Financial Times , the President said she sympathized with her predecessor and that the government was concerned over his welfare.

"There’s not really many instances in the history of the world where you have a former president in jail," she said, adding that she would consider his appeal to be placed under house arrest at his plush mansion at North Greenhills subdivision in San Juan.

"(But) everything about his case, including his arrest, was decided by the Sandiganbayan. These are just opinions and the decision is not ours," she said.

The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan ordered Estrada’s arrest on April 25, sparking a six-day protest by his loyalists that culminated in a violent attack on Malacañang Palace on May 1.

Estrada loyalists protested his arrest for economic plunder and demanded that he be reinstated to the presidency.

Estrada was ousted by a military-backed popular uprising on Jan. 20, just five days after his allies in the Senate voted to exclude potentially damning evidence during his impeachment trial on corruption charges.

While Estrada continued to deny the alleged corruption, however, his lawyers’ strategy was apparently to delay his arraignment and trial in which he could finally disprove the charges against him.

Legal analysts said Estrada’s unprecedented appeal for house detention is also an indication that he would seek a continuing delay of his trial for economic plunder, a non-bailable capital offense.

Estrada was impeached after allegations that he accepted hundred million-peso pay-offs from gambling lords to finance a lavish lifestyle that included the upkeep of mistresses in swanky mansions.

Estrada’s wife, Luisa Ejercito, vowed to avenge the family name by leading the opposition bets, who are fighting Mrs. Arroyo’s supporters for control of the Senate. Mrs. Ejercito is currently in the winning 13 in both official and unofficial partial counts.

Another son of the disgraced president, Joseph Victor Ejercito, won election as mayor of the family’s suburban stronghold of San Juan. The younger Ejercito succeeds Jinggoy.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto, who is legally mandated to prosecute the charges against Estrada before the Sandiganbayan, said he would oppose Estrada’s appeal for house arrest.

"I understand that as head of state, President Arroyo wants an immediate reconciliation of all contending groups in society," Desierto said.

"(But) we cannot be influenced by political considerations," he added, stressing that house detention has no basis in Philippine law.

Even groups who spearheaded the uprising that ousted Estrada and paved the way for Mrs. Arroyo’s succession to the presidency objected to his request for house arrest.

Leftist groups criticized Mrs. Arroyo for not opposing Estrada’s appeal.

"It’s unfair. It sends a wrong signal to those who worked hard for Estrada’s ouster," said Teodoro Casiño of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

He said Estrada should not be given special privileges to send a strong warning to would-be grafters in government.

With Estrada’s many mansions, putting him under house arrest would allow him to have his luxurious lifestyle back instead of giving him due punishment for alleged graft, he said.