Senate gives Estrada time to answer charges

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, NOV. 20. The Philippine President, Mr. Joseph Estrada, was given 10 days to reply to charges of corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution, as the Senate began the formal trial against him today.

The Senate, whose 22 members took oath as judges acting in a tribunal, now has the Supreme Court Chief Justice presiding over the Upper House as a non-voting member. The Upper House said the President must ``answer the impeachment charges within a non- extendable period of 10 days''. Day-to-day hearings in the trial are to begin in the first week of December. Earlier, the Lower House of Representatives had ``impeached'' Mr. Estrada on the same charges and sent the case against him to the Senate for trial. A Senate verdict is final and cannot be appealed.

A Senator and senior member of the beleaguered President's party quit the group today hours before the Senate trial got underway. Mr. Francisco Tatad, Senate majority leader, announced his ``neutrality'' in the forthcoming trial - stressing that he had not joined hands with anti-Estrada forces. The President, meanwhile, said he was ready to accept the verdict from the Senate, which will act as the court of impeachment. ``I will accept whatever is the verdict of the Senate....nobody's above the Constitution. Nobody's above the law,'' Mr. Estrada was quoted as telling reporters in Manila. ``I leave my fate to God and to the judgment of the Senate,'' the President said.

At a time when the Opposition needs 15 votes to convict Mr. Estrada, the announcement of neutrality by Mr. Tatad will definitely come as a blow to the President. With Mr. Tatad's announcement, the Opposition could muster the magical number of 15, the two-thirds strength required in the 22-member Upper House to ensure the exit of Mr. Estrada from office. ``I will vote to convict if the prosecutors succeed in proving their case. I will vote to acquit if they fail to do so. Until that happens, I will not know what my vote will be,'' Mr. Tatad said in a statement.

Mr. Estrada's troubles have mounted after Mr. Luis Singson, a provincial Governor, alleged that he had personally handed over $8 million in bribes to the President from illegal ``jueteng'' (lottery) proceeds. Opposition politicians remain circumspect about their possibility of mustering sufficient numbers in the Senate. ``I am saying that its really hard to get 15 or 16 votes...but if we can get the majority, let's say 13 votes, although that will not be enough to convict, he will find it difficult to recover. He will be politically dead,'' Mr. Rene Cayatano, an Opposition Senator, was quoted as saying.

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Section  : International
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