Impeachment a wake-up call, Estrada says

Impeachment a wake-up call, Estrada says

MANILA (Reuters): President Joseph Estrada, appearing in public on the eve of his impeachment trial, said on Wednesday he would leave his fate in the hands of God and the senators who judge him.

Authorities said they were on red alert to deal with any violence arising from street protests when the impeachment trial, the first in Asia of a sitting president, begins in the Senate on Thursday.

Counsel for both sides said a verdict was unlikely before the end of January.

Estrada faces four charges involving corruption and bribery and will have to leave office if convicted on any one charge by a two-thirds majority of the 22-member Senate.

The Philippine peso weakened below the 50 to the dollar level by the close of the day from 49.62 on Tuesday on jitters ahead of the trial.

"I think people are just being cautious. They don't know what will happen tomorrow. Not that anything will happen (but) every time there is uncertainty, they try to play safe," central bank governor Rafael Buenaventura said.

Opening statements from both the prosecution and the defense are due on the first day of proceedings, and groups of supporters and critics have said they will hold demonstrations outside the waterfront Senate building.

"It's a red alert," National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre told reporters. "We have been vigilant about this particular problem. The pro and anti (groups) will be separated."

Estrada, armed with a opinion poll by Pulse Asia Inc which showed he had a popularity rating of 41 percent late last month, appeared confident he would survive the trial.

"This is just a wake-up call for me," he told reporters. "And I think we will have to work harder after this impeachment trial. So I leave my fate to God and to the sense of fairness and justice of the senators."

The Pulse Asia poll of 500 respondents in Manila and surrounding areas showed Estrada had an approval rating of 41 percent and a disapproval rating of 35 percent with the rest undecided.

The survey was conducted on the weekend of Nov. 25 and the pollster said Estrada's popularity rating had risen from 35 percent on Nov. 7. It said the poll had a four percent margin of error.

Estrada has not appeared in public or spoken to the press for several days. But reporters were called in when Pulse Asia president Felipe Miranda was making a presentation of the latest survey to the president and his cabinet.

Lawyers for the two sides said they were unable to reach an agreement on curtailing the number of witnesses at a pre-trial conference.

"We agreed to disagree," Sergio Apostol, one of the prosecutors, told reporters. "The trial may only be over by the end of January."

He said that the prosecution could call at least 40 witnesses, but another prosecutor put the number at 62.

Estrada's opponents have said tens of thousands of activists will surround the Senate building overlooking Manila Bay on Thursday after what has been called the Jericho march.

The activists will march in silence, except for an occasional blare from a horn. At the Senate, a flame will be lit and activists will cry out in unison, re-enacting the Old Testament story of the walls of Jericho crumbling before the Israelites.

Superintendent Manuel Cabigon, ground commander for Senate security, said around 1,000 police would be deployed to barricade the Senate grounds, in addition to the 200 marines regularly assigned to perimeter security.

Other police officials said an additional 2,000 men would be posted in areas around the Senate to prevent violence during the protests.

Political analysts say the trial could go either way, and a full-page newspaper advertisement by an opposition group indicated the voting would be close.

The advertisement said four senators were "definitely, shamelessly or unabashedly" pro-Estrada, two were friends of the president and most probably would vote for him while one was ill and likely to be absent, in effect a vote for acquittal.

It named four senators as pro-country (or anti-Estrada), six others as hopefully or likely to be pro-country and the rest as unknowns.

Eight votes for acquittal would let Estrada off the hook, while 15 votes to convict will send him out of office.