Thousands rally against Estrada in RP capital
Thousands rally against Estrada in RP capital
MANILA, Philippines (AP): Tens of thousands of Filipinos crowded streets and highway overpasses in Manila Saturday for a rally demanding that President Joseph Estrada resign over allegations he received massive payoffs from illegal gambling lords.
"Mr. President, you are the cause of our hardships, you are the problem," said former President Corazon Aquino. "History may treat you more kindly if you go peacefully and you go now."
Pressure on Estrada to step down has escalated rapidly as prominent lawmakers have deserted his LAMP party in recent days. More than 50 former LAMP congressmen have said they will support an impeachment case in the House of Representatives, virtually assuring enough votes to send it to the Senate for a trial.
The once immensely popular Estrada - a former movie action star - predicted victory as he helped distribute relief goods Saturday to victims of a typhoon in nearby Rizal province.
"It's like in the movies," he told villagers. "The hero is always beaten up in the beginning, but in the end he wins."
Saturday's rally, organized by Manila's influential archbishop, Jaime Cardinal Sin, was held at a shrine commemorating the peaceful "people's power" revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. Participants crowded the shrine and three nearby highway overpasses and threw confetti from nearby buildings.
"Erap resign," they chanted, using Estrada's popular nickname.
While the color yellow symbolized the 1986 revolt, many participants in Saturday's rally wore white, representing their demand for corruption-free government.
"He is mismanaging the economy and the government is ridden with scandal," said Sister Rufisanti, a nun who also participated in the "people's power" revolt. "He should resign. The people have lost confidence in him as a leader."
Estrada's crisis erupted early last month when a provincial governor, Luis Singson, testified that the president had asked him to coordinate the nationwide collection of payoffs from an illegal numbers game called jueteng.
Singson said he provided Estrada with more than 400 million pesos (US$8.6 million) in jueteng payoffs and 130 million pesos ($2.8 million) from provincial tobacco taxes. Estrada has denied taking any illegal gambling money but has provided little evidence in his defense.
Also joining Saturday's rally was Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who heads an opposition coalition and is next in line for the presidency.
"It is not a happy occasion for Filipinos to declare the leader whom they freely and popularly elected president is someone who has betrayed their trust so grievously, so callously, so repeatedly," Arroyo said.
Resignations from Estrada's LAMP party on Friday included the leaders of both houses of Congress - Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Manuel Villar.
Villar said he would back the impeachment complaint, which the House Committee on Justice is to begin considering Monday.
On his weekly television program Saturday, Estrada suggested he would stay on to face impeachment.
"As your president, what is most important for me is the welfare of the people. For you, I am willing to make sacrifices on any political matter. In my view, the process provided by the constitution is sufficient," he said.