Word: estradas
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...rousing speeches, People Power - just like the glorious revolution that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos so dramatically, and virtually bloodlessly, nearly 15 years ago. The emotion of the moment carried the day, and one felt cynical questioning the motives of the people or the alleged corruption of departed President Joseph Estrada. But what actually happened behind the scenes to bring about People Power II? And could those very powers - and people - that have brought about the downfall of yet another Philippine President be the same forces that will make it difficult for anyone, including freshly sworn in President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo...
...Estrada, who never really got the hang of governing the Philippines, effectively or ineffectively, the end came suddenly as the week's initial good news dizzyingly turned to bad. When Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Angelo Reyes and Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado telephoned him Friday afternoon on a secure line from a secret safehouse, Estrada was just 48 hours removed from celebrating what had seemed like a crucial victory in his impeachment trial. By a vote of 11 Senators to 10, he had managed to suppress the opening of an envelope containing the potentially damaging evidence that Estrada controlled...
...make sure Estrada fully understood the implications of this phone call, Reyes dispatched his deputy, General Jose Calimlim, on a mission to personally brief the President on the untenability of his situation. Calimlim, a trusted former aide-de-camp to Estrada, was the appropriate designate to offer the President the pakikisama (show of loyalty) owed to a person whom Reyes would later say he considered a "friend, not an enemy...
...troubles are hardly surprising, since her ascent to power appears to have been choreographed by the nation's elites after they forced the resignation of the corruption-tainted populist Joseph Estrada. The key moment that propelled former vice president Arroyo into the top job was the decision by the military to back her against Estrada - an outcome that had some of those who had been demonstrating against Estrada likening her takeover to a coup. Responding to critics who questioned just how democratic last week's thriller in Manila had been, Arroyo said Thursday, "I think the bottom line...
...Incoming President Arroyo is a modest and moderate economist and former Georgetown University classmate of President Clinton, and she has vowed to pursue the economic liberalization policies started by the conservative former president Fidel Ramos. But it remains far from clear that Estrada's removal will end the corruption and almost theatrical political instability that have become endemic to the Philippines. Business and politics have been intimately and often improperly intertwined for decades in the Philippines, and the World Bank estimates that corruption has cost the country some $48 billion over the past 20 years. It was precisely by (falsely...