Philippines’ Estrada Claims He’s on Leave

Newly installed Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo faced the first challenge to her legitimacy Monday as the man she ousted, Joseph Estrada, contended that he was merely on temporary leave.

Estrada has not formally resigned, and in a letter to Congress that was made public Monday, he said he had appointed Arroyo acting president to rule in his place.

Estrada’s government collapsed over the weekend, and he surrendered the presidential palace to Arroyo. However, his assertion that he is still president keeps alive the possibility that he might attempt a return to power.

“My father is still a force to reckon with,” said his son, Jinggoy Estrada, the mayor of San Juan, a town in metropolitan Manila. “My father has not resigned.”

The ousted president’s contention highlights the unusual nature of the transfer of power, which may have been legal but was hardly democratic.

Arroyo, Estrada’s vice president, was sworn in as president Saturday after the nation’s top military officials said they would no longer obey Estrada.

The Philippine Constitution allows the armed forces to remove a president whose actions endanger the country. Estrada has been accused of stealing millions from the state and ruining the nation’s economy.

Some military leaders have called his ouster a “constitutional coup.”

In a brief order issued Monday--two days after Arroyo was sworn in--the Supreme Court ratified the military’s decision and authorized her to take over as president. The ruling, however, provided no explanation or legal basis for the decision.

Exequiel Garcia, past president of the Philippine Constitution Assn., said legal questions surrounding the court action are academic because there is nobody to appeal to above the Supreme Court.

Indeed, it was Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide who gave Arroyo the oath of office before tens of thousands of supporters. It is hard to imagine the chief justice reversing himself.

“What has happened is what matters,” Garcia said.

Arroyo’s installation as president was ratified by the Philippine stock market, which rose a record 17.56% on Monday.

By asserting that he is still president, Estrada may simply be trying to improve his bargaining position and preserve the immunity from prosecution he enjoyed as president.

During Estrada’s recent impeachment trial, prosecutors accused him of receiving at least $74 million in illegal payments, among other charges.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto, a special prosecutor for corruption cases, said his office began a preliminary investigation Monday into whether Estrada is guilty of plunder--or stealing from the state--which can be punishable by prison or execution.

“The case is now alive because the mantle of immunity has been removed,” Desierto told reporters. “He is no longer president.”

Renato Corona, Arroyo’s spokesman, said the Estrada camp had offered to hand over power on three conditions: a grant of immunity from prosecution, the right to keep all his cash and a statement from Arroyo praising Estrada “to high heaven.”

“We thought it was a very funny situation for a person in his situation to be making demands,” Corona told reporters.

Arroyo began moving into the presidential palace Monday, the same place she lived as a teenager when her father, Diosdado Macapagal, was president during the early 1960s.

“I don’t have any grandiose plans,” she said at a flag-raising ceremony at the palace. “I don’t want to be a great president, but a good president. So help me, please.”

Controversy continued to surround the high court decision that Arroyo could be sworn in.

Although court officials said the decision was made Saturday, no ruling was available until Monday, which also was the day the document was dated.

Corona, the presidential spokesman, denied that Arroyo had a part in securing the court ruling. “The report that President Arroyo solicited that resolution is not true,” he said Monday morning.

But a few hours later, the court released the brief opinion in which it said it was responding to “an urgent request” from Arroyo to decide whether she could be sworn in.

It appears that on Saturday before he left the palace, Estrada sent congressional leaders the letter appointing Arroyo acting president.

“I am unable to exercise the powers and duties of my office,” Estrada’s letter said. “By operation of law and the constitution, the vice president shall be the acting president.”

Estrada’s continuing presence and his claim to the presidency have not stopped the exodus of associates, who have been sighted at the Manila airport leaving for Hong Kong or the United States.

Aides to Arroyo said it appeared that some valuable items had been removed from the palace at the time of the Estrada family’s departure.

For example, some of the palace’s 27 paintings by the American artist Grandma Moses are missing. They were purchased by Imelda Marcos, wife of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Some of the valuables may have been inadvertently packed in Estrada’s haste to clear out of the palace, Corona said. The new president’s staff is attempting to put together a list of missing items.