Estrada claims government asked him to leave RP

"It was them who wanted me out of the country."

This was the assertion of former President Joseph Estrada who claimed he turned down the offers of Palace officials to go on voluntary exile.

In an interview with television station ABC-5, the ousted leader said the Arroyo administration is making it appear that he plans on escaping plunder charges when in fact he has no intention of leaving the country.

"I came from the movies, these (reports of escape) are very creative. In fact, they were the ones who offered (exile)," Mr. Estrada said. "Even the acting President herself in an earlier statement said it’s my call if I want to leave the country."

"There was an offer for me but I turned it down because there was no guarantee on when I can go back," he said.

The former president said the formal offer for his safe exit from the Philippines was made a week after he and his family abandoned Malacañang on Jan. 20.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr., he said, also noted that it would be better if he went into exile.

Estrada said he would soon reveal other efforts of Malacañang to persuade him to leave the country.

"I repeat for the 40th time that I will never leave the country," Estrada said, adding that he has been under close surveillance since he left the Palace.

He said the surveillance was so obvious that he even invited on several occasions the agents inside his home on Polk street in Greenhills, San Juan.

"These people who are shadowing me, those making surveillance wherever I go, I invite them inside my house (because) sometimes it’s raining," he said.

"Don’t waste your time on me. I pity you. You don’t have to watch me, I’m already under guard by the First Lady (Dr. Luisa Ejercito)," he said he told the surveillance agents.

Estrada also scored the government for harassing his close associates and pressuring them into testifying against him.

"They (government) use the word plunder, of course anybody would be afraid because this is the first time such case would be filed," he said.

Meanwhile, PPC candidates called for the freezing of the assets of Estrada to prevent him from using his allegedly ill-gotten wealth to beef up the PM campaign funds.

"Estrada will be moving heaven and earth for him to stay out of jail," outgoing Makati Rep. Joker Arroyo said. "He will be infusing his illegally-gotten money to help boost the dwindling popularity of PM candidates."

Arroyo, a PPC senatorial candidate, made the reaction after Ople supposedly admitted during the caucus in Pampanga that Estrada will contribute campaign funds for the candidacy of nine PM candidates and their local counterparts.

"We got it from the horse’s mouth. Ople admitted it," Arroyo said.

Arroyo added that the PM coalition should really work doubly hard for its candidates to win since the PPC’s threat of a 13-0 sweep in the senatorial contest is becoming more real.

"They can feel the heat of the 13-0 sweep of the PPC. They will be picked up at the kangkong patch if they don’t use money. There’s no way that the PM coalition will win without resorting to vote-buying and using their dirty money," he added.

At the same time, former internal revenue commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato demanded that Estrada and his mistresses release their statement of assets and liabilities so that people will know how much money they have.

"We need to freeze Estrada’s assets including (that of) his mistresses. He will use his ill-gotten wealth against us and poor people will suffer because of this," Chato said.

In case the PM coalition offers money in exchange for votes, Chato advised voters to take the money but not hesitate to vote for those who have untainted records and are truly pro-people and pro-poor.