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I’m Touched and Humbled
Erap says of Enrile’s defense, insists he’s qualified to run for president
By BRENDA PIQUERO, FRANCIS WAKEFIELD
September 23, 2009, 6:40pm

“I was deeply touched and humbled.” This shorthand straight-from-the-heart statement of former President Joseph Estrada, expressing how he felt after Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile delivered a privilege speech last Tuesday in defense and support of the former president’s character and integrity both as a man and a public official, whose life has been shaped by both triumph and tragedy.

“I can never pay enough tribute to a great parliamentarian who was my noble and selfless mentor as a novice in the Philippine Senate whose guidance, legislative, and parliamentary expertise I will always treasure,” the popular opposition leader said late Tuesday evening.

As this developed, Estrada maintained that he is qualified to seek the presidency in the 2010 national and local elections.

Enrile’s privilege speech caught not only Estrada but a wide television audience by surprise, especially in the aftermath of the brief political storm created by the earlier accusations of fellow Senator Panfilo Lacson with a promise of a repeat performance he (Lacson) aired the other day.

A flashpoint in the Senate President’s speech was when he reminded his audience inside and outside the Senate halls how every dirt and mud had been hurled at Estrada, but “as a murderer and a killer, he is not.”

“I could not help but feel saddened about how an old friendship has come to such a bitter and rancorous end, and to witness the ensuing acrimony that rages to this day,” Enrile said in the course of his speech.

The Senate head also mentioned Estrada’s unblemished concern when, in 1990, he (Enrile) was arrested right in the Senate floor over what the Supreme Court later declared as a non-existent crime of “rebellion complexed with murder.”

Enrile recalled it was only Erap (Estrada’s popular nickname) among his Senate colleagues who dared to accompany him in the van that brought him to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) surrounded by government arresting officers, to thwart any violent ending that could happen along the way.

“I could never forget this most sincere gesture of concern and kindness which Erap readily extended to me during one of my darkest days, when many of my so-called friends chose to keep their distance from me,” Enrile said of Estrada.

Political analysts pointed to Enrile’s Senate address virtually describing Estrada as the “inspiration of millions among the nation’s poor who don’t have a voice.”

Estrada also cited the second privilege speech of his former PNP chief as “more of a sermon meant to defend himself,” than the expected boomerang effect of what he called the legislator’s continuing demolition job he described as part of a sinister effort to dissuade him (Estrada) to change his political plans for next year’s May elections.

Like the Senate President, Estrada admitted feeling sad with how his trusted PNP head turned against him after almost two decades as friends and public servants, “repeating ancient and malicious charges, yet safely hiding underneath the cloak of parliamentary immunity.”

“Listening to Sen. Lacson’s first and second round of re-hashed accusations heavily dripping with sarcasm and rancor, I must admit, was a big letdown for me, coming as it is from somebody whom I respected and appointed to the highest position in the PNP against relentless resistance inside and outside my administration, and against all odds,” Estrada said.

He also echoed his wife, former First Lady and Senator Luisa “Loi” Estrada’s personal disappointment over a friend and former colleague with “deep personal pain being the end of what I held was a sincere and respectable friendship.”

During a debate held at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City, on whether or not he is still eligible to run for the highest position in the land, Estrada reiterated that he is still qualified to run in 2010 considering that he failed to finish his six-year term. He also maintained that he did not resign as Chief Executive of the land during the height of the People Power revolt in January 2001.

“Ang sabi ng Supreme Court nag-resign daw ako… I never resigned from office,” Estrada said. “Ang Supreme Court ang nag-resign sa akin,” he said.

Estrada also said that the issue whether or not he is still eligible to run again should be decided by the people and not by Supreme Court.

“This issue should be decided by the people. It’s a political question and the people should decide on this matter. The issue should be thrown to the people because the people were the ones who ratified the constitution,” he said.

Estrada said that the only way for a sitting president to be forced out of office is through (1) resignation, (2) if he/she is incapacitated or dies while in office, and (3) if he/she was found guilty of wrongdoing by an impeachment court.

Atty. Pacifico Agabin, a legal luminary for the camp of the former president, also reiterated during the debate that the term “the President” in the 1987 Constitution refers only to the sitting President.

He added that the disqualification provision cited in the Section 4, Article 7 of the Charter only applies to the incumbent President.

He said that Section 4 of the Constitution states that “The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by direct vote of the people for a term of six years which shall begin at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following the day of the election and shall end at noon of the same date six years thereafter. The President shall not be eligible for any re-election. No person who has succeeded as President and has served as such for more than four years shall be qualified for election to the same office at any time.”

But election lawyer Romeo Macalintal, in his rebuttal, said the term “the President" refers to all elected Presidents, both incumbent and past ones. He said because of this, Mr. Estrada is barred from running again as president.

“He is barred from running for the same position dahil nga base sa Saligang Batas, all elected Presidents are no longer allowed to run for the position,” Macalintal said.

Macalintal, who is also the election lawyer of President Arroyo, mentioned that when Estrada assumed the Presidency in 1998, he took an oath that he will not run for re-election.

“If he (Estrada) runs again, he will be violating the provisions of the Constitution,” he said during the pack forum.

Macalintal, however, pointed out that Estrada could run for vice president and perhaps, become president again if circumstances present itself.

Macalintal also urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) headed by Chairman Jose. T. Melo to immediately look at the case of Erap so that it can decide the matter as early as now.

“Matagal pa naman ang November bago mag-file ng candidacies ang mga kakandidato sa 2010 so as early as now, the Comelec should do something about this issue. Dapat pag-aralan na nila ito,” he added.

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