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.