Estrada denies U.S. pressure to step down

Estrada denies U.S. pressure to step down

MANILA (Reuters): Embattled Philippine President Joseph Estrada, facing threats of impeachment over a gambling payoffs scandal, denied on Sunday that there had been pressure from the United States for him to resign.

"The United States does not interfere in our affairs. All they want to happen is for our constitution to be followed," Estrada, who had talks recently with senior U.S. embassy officials, said in a radio interview.

Estrada faces the prospects of more defections from his ruling coalition as the House of Representatives or Lower House begins formal discussions on Monday on an opposition motion calling for his impeachment.

Estrada, who has rejected calls to step down, said he would resign only if it was proved in an impeachment trial that he received payoffs from illegal gambling syndicates.

"If it is proved during impeachment that I am guilty, that is the only thing, according to the constitution, that can make me step down," he said.

"But I did not take any money from (illegal gambling) and I never stole a centavo from the treasury."

A former presidential ally has accused Estrada of receiving 414 million pesos (US$8.1 million) from syndicates running underground lotteries.

The president slammed opposition proposals to boycott businesses owned by his friends, saying such a plan would only damage the economy.

Senator Ramon Revilla, a long-time presidential ally and a former movie star like Estrada, is expected to announce his break from the coalition on Monday, joining five senators who have already severed their links with the president.

Also on Monday, leaders of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), one of three parties in the ruling coalition, meet to discuss a proposal to quit.

The LDP is headed by Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara, Estrada's vice-presidential running mate in the 1998 election.

Estrada lost his majority in the 218-member Lower House last week when more than 40 coalition congressmen broke away to support the impeachment case filed by opposition lawmakers.

Monday's meeting of the Lower House committee on justice will discuss whether the impeachment case, already supported by a majority in the House, can be passed outright to the Senate for trial without a debate by the full House.

The Senate could begin the trial of Estrada as early as later this month.

A two-thirds vote by the 22-member Senate -- or at least 15 senators -- is required to convict and remove Estrada from office.

Vice-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the constitutional successor if Estrada leaves office, quit her cabinet post as social welfare secretary after the pay-offs scandal broke.