Prosecutors seek evidence on Estrada

Prosecutors seek evidence on Estrada

MANILA (AP): After branding President Joseph Estrada a crook and comparing him to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, impeachment trial prosecutors sought to prove it on Friday with testimony about illegal gambling payoffs.

An employee of a provincial governor who accused Estrada of taking millions of dollars in kickbacks from an illegal numbers game testified she collected bundles of cash to be delivered to the president.

The governor's aide, Emma Lim, described once picking up one million pesos ($20,000) in gambling proceeds wrapped in old magazines from the office of Estrada's son, Jinggoy Estrada, the mayor of San Juan, a small city in metropolitan Manila.

Lim testified she collected the money on orders from her boss, Ilocos Sur Governor Luis Singson, a key player in the scandal that has thrown the Philippines into its worst political crisis in years.

Singson, a reputed gambling lord, alleged in October that he gave the president more than 400 million pesos from the numbers name, called "jueteng," and 130 million pesos from tobacco taxes.

Estrada stood defiant on Friday, daring prosecutors to hit him with their best shots.

"I don't care how many bombs they drop," Estrada told reporters at the presidential palace, Malacanang. "I'm already impeached. That's why we have the trial now, but I believe I'll be acquitted."

Asked about his accusers, Estrada said "let us pray for those who are losing their minds."

Prosecutors spent much of Friday, the second day of the unprecedented trial, trying to establish a paper trail for the alleged kickbacks.

They got off to a rocky start, showing a check and a deposit slip to an Estrada aide, Anton Prieto, who allegedly handled some of the cash, only to hear him testify he had not seen the documents before.

Congressmen acting as prosecutors opened with a flourish on Thursday, spinning a tale of money, mansions and mistresses that they contend makes Estrada unfit to govern.

With tens of thousands of people -- most of them anti-Estrada -- demonstrating outside the Philippine Senate on Thursday, the politicians began plowing into the trial that could extend into early next year.

One of the 11 congressmen serving as prosecutors, Rep. Joker Arroyo, compared Estrada to Marcos, who is said to have accumulated more than $2 billion in ill-gotten wealth.

"I wonder who is the bigger crook?" Arroyo asked. He showed senators a check for 142 million pesos that he claimed bears Estrada's signature, the same as on Philippine banknotes, only using a false name as the president allegedly tried to hide his money.

Arroyo also showed off pictures of mansions allegedly bought by Estrada, a former movie star, for his mistresses. Estrada is reported to have fathered seven children by five women other than his wife.

"Twenty years of the Marcos years, he never had this kind of mansions," Arroyo said. "Two years of Estrada, you have all these mansions."

Marcos was ousted in a popular revolt in 1986. His widow, Imelda - notorious for her collection of thousands of shoes - is one of Estrada's supporters.

Estrada faces four counts -- bribery, corruption, violating the constitution and betraying the public trust -- and would be thrown out of office if found guilty on any one of them.

But it takes two-thirds of the 22 senators to achieve a conviction, and with eight senators believed to be on Estrada's side, he may have enough political clout to win acquittal.