January 15, 2001, Sun Star, Espiritu testimony 'to force President to face Senate jurors',

MANILA -- Prosecutors said Sunday that the testimony of former finance secretary Edgardo Espiritu could ensure President Estrada's conviction, and put more pressure on the embattled leader to take the witness stand.
Prosecution panel spokesman Edmund Reyes stressed Estrada would be "convicted hands down" if he failed to refute charges made by Espiritu, who not only served in Estrada's Cabinet but even helped in his campaign.

Espiritu, who has fled to the United States after receiving death threats, last week testified that Estrada had told him of having earned huge sums through a friend indicted for insider trading.

The ex-cabinet official also told the court that Estrada associated with notorious smugglers at the presidential palace and approved a multi-million peso loan that went to a gaming firm he co-owned, which was the subject of the stock fraud.

Espiritu said he left Estrada's cabinet last year because he could not stand the rampant corruption, which had led to huge deficits.

Estrada was impeached by the House of Representatives in November. He stands accused of taking bribes from illegal gambling syndicates, skimming off government excise taxes and pressuring corporate regulators to clear the friend embroiled in the stock fraud.

"The impact of Espiritu's testimony is huge. It puts the pressure on President Estrada to take the witness stand," Reyes told Agence France Presse.

"So, no doubt, if he wants to stand a chance of being acquitted, he should take the witness stand since no one else can deny Espiritu's statement."

Espiritu was the first former or present Cabinet member to have testified in Asia's first trial of a sitting president.

Espiritu fled to the United States with his wife after testifying, fearing reprisals from the smugglers he said hobnobbed with Estrada. Prosecutors said other witnesses have also received death threats and were being kept in safe houses.

But defense panel member Sigfrid Fortun downplayed Espiritu's testimony, saying it had no "significant impact on this case."

Fortun said Espiritu was only "sourgraping" because the government did not step in to help a son mired in legal troubles over failed investment transactions, and denied the government was harassing prosecution witnesses.

"There is no such thing. Nobody had threatened him violently, physically or otherwise. These (accusations) are unfounded," Fortun said.

The defense panel is ready for its presentation, slated for next week, and will wrap it up by the end of the month, Fortun said.

The Senate impeachment tribunal has said a verdict was to be handed down by Feb. 12. A two-thirds vote of the Senate's 22 members (15 votes) is needed to convict the President and remove him from office. One conviction on any of four charges would be enough: bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of the public trust and violation of the Constitution.

Prosecution panel spokesman Reyes added that public perception has also now turned against Estrada, after several of his mistresses fled abroad to apparently evade testifying against the former movie star.

Four of Estrada's mistresses have fled abroad, opposition members said. One of them, ex-movie starlet Laarni Enriquez, took a flight to the United States via Hong Kong on Thursday, a day after Senate officials were given the runaround by her staff when they tried to deliver a subpoena.

A broad coalition of anti-Estrada groups, which includes an odd mixture of leftists, the Catholic Church and business executives, yesterday called on the public to reject any acquittal in the face of overwhelming evidence of Estrada's wrongdoings.

The coalition, called Kompil, warned that an acquittal "is to invite a repeat of Edsa," referring to a 1986 people power revolt that ousted former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Meanwhile, the armed forces would remain neutral and accept the verdict "whatever it is," military spokesman Brigadier General Jaime Canatoy said. (Sun.Star Cebu/wires)