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From power to prison
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FORMER Philippine president Joseph Estrada's ironic journey from power to prison could well make for a hit movie in a country where he first made his mark as a swashbuckling film actor.
It would be a movie with all the elements of a blockbuster -- a dashing lover, gorgeous women, lavish mansions, high stakes gambling, betrayals and blown dreams.
Estrada, a college dropout, a confessed womaniser and a lover of good whisky, was a phenomenon in politics when he took office in June 1998 as the country's 13th president after winning an election by the biggest majority in the country's political history.
"This will be the greatest performance of my life," he said then. Less than two years later, his presidency was in ashes.
Scene of the arrest
On Wednesday, smiling just faintly at cameramen, he was on his way to prison, accused of illegally amassing more than four billion pesos (US$80 million) in his 31 months in office in an act of economic plunder punishable by life imprisonment or death.
Until otherwise ordered by the courts, Estrada will be kept in a cozy but spartan cell at Manila's main police camp. There will be no television set and no phones.
An angry crowd stoned police who cleared a path to escort Estrada from his home. Thousands more protested outside the nearby police base where he was fingerprinted and had mug shots taken - the first arrest of a Philippine leader on corruption charges.
The country's chief anti-graft court, the Sandiganbayan, ordered his arrest early on Wednesday. Estrada, who defiantly maintained his innocence and insisted he never gave up the presidency, left home accompanied by his wife - a Senate candidate - and son Jinggoy, also arrested on plunder charges.
Estrada's attorney Raymond Fortun asked the court for at least three hours' notice to give the former president time to take a bath, pack his clothes and say goodbye to loved ones.
Voice of supporters
A few hundreds of supporters of Estrada started late in the afternoon to gather at the EDSA Shrine in a bid to launch their own version of People Power uprising. They also clashed with anti-riot policemen tasked to disperse pro-Estrada's protesters.
Opposition senatorial candidates Miriam Santiago and Juan Enrile called for a public display of a civil disobedience to protest what they claimed as "political harassment" of Estrada.
Other opposition leaders decried what they claimed the use of excessive force in carrying out the arrest warrant against Estrada.
A die-hard fan of Estrada, Nang Baby, who works as a janitor at the Capitol was teary-eyed when she learned of the impending arrest of the former president.
"I voted for him then because of his pro-poor programmes. He also had a good record at first," Baby said.
Call of justice
The government hailed Estrada's imminent arrest as "a historic moment", saying the justice is working in the country.
Commenting on the event, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon that this is "all about justice".
She also urged the court to rush for Estrada's trial, saying: "The court is the proper venue, since the trial of Joseph Estrada is neither a political matter nor a class war."
"We consider this a historic moment. We showed that even the former highest official of the land could be held answerable for his action," presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao echoed.
Tiglao said Estrada's arrest would also be favourable to the investment climate, saying: "That is why at this very moment, the stock market is improving." Philippine share prices closed 1.3 per cent higher on Wednesday than the previous session.
Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin said: "The wheels of justice are moving. This is good for the nation, good for the people and good for the former president also."
Sin, who played a key role in launching the popular uprising in January that toppled Estrada from power, urged the government to "pursue this case without delay."(SD-Agencies)
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