Estrada denies U.S. pressure to step down<\/p>\n
MANILA (Reuters): Embattled Philippine President Joseph
\nEstrada, facing threats of impeachment over a gambling payoffs
\nscandal, denied on Sunday that there had been pressure from the
\nUnited States for him to resign.<\/p>\n
\"The United States does not interfere in our affairs. All they
\nwant to happen is for our constitution to be followed,\" Estrada,
\nwho had talks recently with senior U.S. embassy officials, said
\nin a radio interview.<\/p>\n
Estrada faces the prospects of more defections from his ruling
\ncoalition as the House of Representatives or Lower House begins
\nformal discussions on Monday on an opposition motion calling for
\nhis impeachment.<\/p>\n
Estrada, who has rejected calls to step down, said he would
\nresign only if it was proved in an impeachment trial that he
\nreceived payoffs from illegal gambling syndicates.<\/p>\n
\"If it is proved during impeachment that I am guilty, that is
\nthe only thing, according to the constitution, that can make me
\nstep down,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"But I did not take any money from (illegal gambling) and I
\nnever stole a centavo from the treasury.\"<\/p>\n
A former presidential ally has accused Estrada of receiving
\n414 million pesos (US$8.1 million) from syndicates running
\nunderground lotteries.<\/p>\n
The president slammed opposition proposals to boycott
\nbusinesses owned by his friends, saying such a plan would only
\ndamage the economy.<\/p>\n
Senator Ramon Revilla, a long-time presidential ally and a
\nformer movie star like Estrada, is expected to announce his break
\nfrom the coalition on Monday, joining five senators who have
\nalready severed their links with the president.<\/p>\n
Also on Monday, leaders of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino
\n(LDP), one of three parties in the ruling coalition, meet to
\ndiscuss a proposal to quit.<\/p>\n
The LDP is headed by Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara,
\nEstrada's vice-presidential running mate in the 1998 election.<\/p>\n
Estrada lost his majority in the 218-member Lower House last
\nweek when more than 40 coalition congressmen broke away to
\nsupport the impeachment case filed by opposition lawmakers.<\/p>\n
Monday's meeting of the Lower House committee on justice will
\ndiscuss whether the impeachment case, already supported by a
\nmajority in the House, can be passed outright to the Senate for
\ntrial without a debate by the full House.<\/p>\n
The Senate could begin the trial of Estrada as early as later
\nthis month.<\/p>\n
A two-thirds vote by the 22-member Senate -- or at least 15
\nsenators -- is required to convict and remove Estrada from
\noffice.<\/p>\n
Vice-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the constitutional
\nsuccessor if Estrada leaves office, quit her cabinet post as
\nsocial welfare secretary after the pay-offs scandal broke.<\/p>",
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