Prosecutors seek evidence on Estrada<\/p>\n
MANILA (AP): After branding President Joseph Estrada a crook
\nand comparing him to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos,
\nimpeachment trial prosecutors sought to prove it on Friday with
\ntestimony about illegal gambling payoffs.<\/p>\n
An employee of a provincial governor who accused Estrada of
\ntaking millions of dollars in kickbacks from an illegal numbers
\ngame testified she collected bundles of cash to be delivered to
\nthe president.<\/p>\n
The governor's aide, Emma Lim, described once picking up one
\nmillion pesos ($20,000) in gambling proceeds wrapped in old
\nmagazines from the office of Estrada's son, Jinggoy Estrada, the
\nmayor of San Juan, a small city in metropolitan Manila.<\/p>\n
Lim testified she collected the money on orders from her boss,
\nIlocos Sur Governor Luis Singson, a key player in the scandal
\nthat has thrown the Philippines into its worst political crisis
\nin years.<\/p>\n
Singson, a reputed gambling lord, alleged in October that he
\ngave the president more than 400 million pesos from the numbers
\nname, called \"jueteng,\" and 130 million pesos from tobacco taxes.<\/p>\n
Estrada stood defiant on Friday, daring prosecutors to hit him
\nwith their best shots.<\/p>\n
\"I don't care how many bombs they drop,\" Estrada told
\nreporters at the presidential palace, Malacanang. \"I'm already
\nimpeached. That's why we have the trial now, but I believe I'll
\nbe acquitted.\"<\/p>\n
Asked about his accusers, Estrada said \"let us pray for those
\nwho are losing their minds.\"<\/p>\n
Prosecutors spent much of Friday, the second day of the
\nunprecedented trial, trying to establish a paper trail for the
\nalleged kickbacks.<\/p>\n
They got off to a rocky start, showing a check and a deposit
\nslip to an Estrada aide, Anton Prieto, who allegedly handled some
\nof the cash, only to hear him testify he had not seen the
\ndocuments before.<\/p>\n
Congressmen acting as prosecutors opened with a flourish on
\nThursday, spinning a tale of money, mansions and mistresses that
\nthey contend makes Estrada unfit to govern.<\/p>\n
With tens of thousands of people -- most of them anti-Estrada
\n-- demonstrating outside the Philippine Senate on Thursday, the
\npoliticians began plowing into the trial that could extend into
\nearly next year.<\/p>\n
One of the 11 congressmen serving as prosecutors, Rep. Joker
\nArroyo, compared Estrada to Marcos, who is said to have
\naccumulated more than $2 billion in ill-gotten wealth.<\/p>\n
\"I wonder who is the bigger crook?\" Arroyo asked. He showed
\nsenators a check for 142 million pesos that he claimed bears
\nEstrada's signature, the same as on Philippine banknotes, only
\nusing a false name as the president allegedly tried to hide his
\nmoney.<\/p>\n
Arroyo also showed off pictures of mansions allegedly bought
\nby Estrada, a former movie star, for his mistresses. Estrada is
\nreported to have fathered seven children by five women other than
\nhis wife.<\/p>\n
\"Twenty years of the Marcos years, he never had this kind of
\nmansions,\" Arroyo said. \"Two years of Estrada, you have all these
\nmansions.\"<\/p>\n
Marcos was ousted in a popular revolt in 1986. His widow,
\nImelda - notorious for her collection of thousands of shoes - is
\none of Estrada's supporters.<\/p>\n
Estrada faces four counts -- bribery, corruption, violating
\nthe constitution and betraying the public trust -- and would be
\nthrown out of office if found guilty on any one of them.<\/p>\n
But it takes two-thirds of the 22 senators to achieve a
\nconviction, and with eight senators believed to be on Estrada's
\nside, he may have enough political clout to win acquittal.<\/p>",
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