Estrada says he was too busy to report bribe attempt

Estrada says he was too busy to report bribe attempt

MANILA (Reuters): Philippine President Joseph Estrada said on
Friday he did not report attempts by a former ally to bribe him
with millions of dollars because he was too busy.

He told foreign correspondents that provincial governor Luis
Singson, an old friend who was also a gambling buddy, was part of
the illegal lottery syndicate which tried to bribe him.

But Estrada admitted he did not report either the involvement
of Singson in the syndicate or the attempted bribery, both of
which are punishable under law.

"A president has so (much) work to do," he said. "That is the
work of the Philippine National Police."

Singson's allegation last month that he paid some 400 million
pesos (about $8 million) to Estrada has led to a sweeping
campaign to force the president's resignation. He is likely to
face an impeachment trial in the Senate later this month on the
charges.

Estrada also denied fresh charges that he had received
kickbacks of one billion pesos from the sale of a stake in
domestic telephone firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co to
Hong Kong's First Pacific Co Ltd.

Former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Perfecto
Yasay told a local television station on Thursday night that
Estrada also made money from last year's sharp rise in the share
price of gaming firm BW Resources, which is now subject to an
insider trading probe.

Yasay, while making the allegations in a television interview
on Thursday night, however admitted he did not have proof. He has
publicly quarreled with Estrada over the BW Resource case and was
eased out of office earlier this year.

"These are all complete lies," Estrada said of Yasay's
charges.

He had, however, admitted for the first time on Thursday that
Singson paid some 200 million pesos into the bank account of a
scholarship foundation run by the president's brother-in-law but
he did not know about it and the money was still intact.

On Friday, Estrada said Singson was part of the gambling
syndicate running jueteng, an underground numbers game popular
among the poor. He called Singson "a provincial governor who has
admitted governing jueteng operations instead of his province".

But the president also said Singson was a friend with whom he
had played mahjong, a Chinese board game, for money.

"I have known him since way back," Estrada said. Asked how
much he had won in the mahjong games and if he had reported the
winnings to tax authorities, Estrada said: "Ask my accountant. I
do not remember how much I won."

Singson has said Estrada may have won as much as 100 million
pesos in the games, at which other participants included a
prominent local businessman and Mark Jimenez, a man wanted in the
United States for illegal contributions to campaign funds.

Estrada said he had played mahjong with Singson only about
three or four times and that Singson was the big winner.

He also said Singson told him funds had been paid by the
gambling syndicate for extending protection to jueteng, but that
he berated him and had not touched a cent.

Asked if he had reported this matter to authorities, the
president said: "It was just talk, he was not carrying the money.
To file charges one must have evidence."

Singson has told a Senate committee investigating the bribery
scandal that Estrada had designated him as a collector of money
from gambling syndicates. He said he had turned over 414 million
pesos to Estrada during the past two years.

When asked about Estrada's contention that he did not take the
money, Singson said: "Why is he saying this only now? If what he
is saying is true, he should have said it earlier. But why only
now?

"We know that the money that went to (a lawyer) reached the
presidential palace," he said in an interview with dzMM radio on
Friday.

Despite the enormous loss of support since the charges
emerged, Estrada insisted he would be proved innocent and that
his ability to govern would not be affected.

"This is all temporary," he said. "Once I prove myself, they
will all be coming back, they will be outrunning each other. This
is the kind of politicians we have."

Vice-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the powerful church,
former president Corazon Aquino, almost all big business groups
and labor unions have turned their back on Estrada and said he
should resign even before being impeached.

He has also lost majority support in the House of
Representatives and his majority in the Senate has been severely
eroded by defections.

But Estrada called the campaign "systematic and sinister
disinformation...a packet of syndicated lies and naked
treachery...coming from forces seeking to destabilize the
government and promote their selfish agenda to gain power outside
of our established constitutional framework."