Estrada Is Arraigned on Plunder Charges

Ousted Philippine President Joseph Estrada was arraigned Tuesday on the capital offense of economic plunder--a law he once championed to fight official corruption.

But Tuesday, Estrada’s lawyers argued that the 1991 law is unconstitutionally vague and that the charge should be dropped.

The courts stood firm, however, on trying the former action film star, who is accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks during 31 months in office.

In another irony, Estrada was arraigned inside the imposing courthouse he had inaugurated as a symbol of his campaign against corruption.

One of his sons, Jinggoy, whose term as mayor of Manila’s San Juan district expired June 30, also was arraigned on an economic plunder charge, along with attorney Edward Serapio.

As in his arraignment on a perjury charge two weeks ago, Estrada did not enter a plea. The Sandiganbayan anti-graft court justices entered a plea of innocent on his behalf and set a pretrial hearing for Sept. 3.

Estrada’s lawyers claimed that the arraignment should be postponed while the Supreme Court ponders an appeal filed earlier Tuesday.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto countered that the Supreme Court could still rule even after a conviction. He accused Estrada’s lawyers of delaying tactics by filing 41 motions and said the arraignment had already been delayed for 84 days.

Plunder--an offense for which no bail is permitted--is punishable by death, but there is little chance that the man who won a six-year term in 1998 with one of the largest margins in Philippine history would be executed if convicted.