Word: estradas
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...more disturbing, albeit most plausible, theory of what transpired involves a conspiracy. As a macho former movie star, Estrada was held in contempt by Manila's business aristocracy. Mrs. Aquino is from landed gentry. Cardinal Sin has an understandable aversion to a President who boasts of mistresses and illegitimate offspring. In the mid-'80s, the Elite and the Church banded together to help organize Manila's masses against Marcos, a moment of triumph they have never forgotten. The fact that a high percentage of Filipinos loved Estrada was exasperating. Even more inconvenient was his grip on the Senate, which seemed...
...when circumstances changed, so, apparently, did those values. On the crowded pavement of EDSA last week, Aquino and Ramos urged Filipinos to disregard the constitution - not because it was flawed, but because it wasn't getting rid of Estrada quickly enough. Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, another member of the Elite, referred to herself as Commander in Chief even before Estrada resigned - and then took the presidential oath, vowing to uphold the constitution...
...moment of truth for Joseph Estrada came abruptly at 1 p.m last Friday, when Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Angelo Reyes and Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado informed him that the military was withdrawing its support from him. Concerned that Estrada had not fully understood the finality of the call, Reyes asked his deputy, General Jose Calimlim, to follow up the phone call with a personal visit. Calimlim, a trusted former aide-de-camp to Estrada, was a person who could perhaps coax him through pakikisama (camaraderie), the gentle pressure of "a friend, not an enemy...
Following a series of events that were almost as fantastical as the original revolution that toppled Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, the Philippines was poised to make its fourth transition of power. By Saturday, Estrada, fighting a corruption scandal and a rancorous Senate impeachment trial, had resigned. He appeared to have the votes to survive the Senate action, but the Philippine people had seen enough. They took to the streets peacefully last week, and by week's end Estrada's 2 1/2-year rule was finished and his archrival, Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was sworn...
...country faces immense challenges. Even before charges were filed against Estrada, sending the peso into a death spiral, economic growth had stalled while debt had soared to record levels, throwing new IMF relief into doubt. Graft and corruption remain endemic in the Philippines, and they were focal points in Estrada's trial. Century-old demands by Muslim secessionists for an independent Mindanao had quieted at the end of the previous presidency, Fidel Ramos', but flared anew under the erratic management of the Estrada administration. But that...