Word: estradas
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...Santos Avenue, or EDSA, one of the city's main thoroughfares. Next, you recruit a couple of ambitious generals who can enlist the troops and scramble the jets. That's the way two Philippine Presidents were overthrown: kleptocrat Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and party-loving, mah-jongg crazy Joseph Estrada last January...
...showcase nature of Estrada's first days in jail suggest that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was trying to send a message to several constituencies. The administration wants the Philippine people to believe it's trying to eradicate endemic corruption. And it wants the international community, particularly those who might invest more money if they didn't have to pay bribes right and left, to believe likewise. The Philippines enjoyed several years of improved economic performance under Estrada's predecessor, Fidel Ramos, only to see it wasted by Estrada's erratic leadership. "This is a signal to the international community that...
...arrest brought thousands of Estrada sympathizers out on the street. Inspired by pervasive pictures of their suffering hero on a too-thin mattress in a too-small cell with malfunctioning air conditioning, demonstrators congregated at the edsa shrine, which commemorates the anti-Marcos People Power revolution of 1986. Arroyo's right-mindedness, in the short term anyway, began to look like a public relations blunder. What's more, it might scare investors away. Two days prior to the arrest, Moody's Investors Service issued a "negative" rating for the Philippines, due to continuing political instability. Following Estrada's detention, both...
...weekend, pro-Estrada crowds swelled to more than 50,000 people, and Manila's caffeinated rumor mill started reporting that payoffs were being offered to military personnel to support "Erap," as Estrada is known, over Arroyo. (Estrada still maintains that he is President, and that People Power II was an illegal rebellion.) "The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are squarely behind the government and prepared to meet any challenge to the constitution," Arroyo reassured the people. Still, both bodies remain on full alert, and as of the weekend, Estrada was set to be transferred...
...Justice Secretary Hernando Perez says the prosecution is ready to make its case, and he's confident enough to push for a trial in mid-May, smack in the middle of nationwide Senate elections in which Estrada's wife is running. "If they want us to present evidence today," he says, "we can do so." That might not be a bad idea. The pro-Erap crowd, which includes Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, a hero of the original People Power movement who was also accused of coup-plotting against former President Corazon Aquino, is calling for People Power III to bring...