Estrada son denies threatening Arroyo

INQUIRER.net
Maila Ager

MANILA, Philippines -- Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada has denied that his family had threatened to put President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in jail, as he even promised to treat her justly when she steps down from office next year.

Speaking at the Senate floor on Tuesday, Estrada also refuted Arroyo’s claim that the government was on the brink of bankruptcy when she took over the presidency in 2010.

“Mr. President, having been wrongly put to jail, I or President Estrada do not threaten Mrs. Arroyo or her minions with jail time,” he said, referring to his father, ousted leader Joseph Estrada.

“We will treat her (Arroyo) with justice, with the rule of law, with her day in a court that would be fair. These are rights she has denied to us and many other victims of her nine-year regime,” he said.

The senator was detained with his father for two years. He was co-accused for plunder but was acquitted. The elder Estrada was found guilty but was pardoned by Arroyo in October 2007.

The young Estrada described his stay in detention as “cruel and agonizing.”

“I was imprisoned by the administration of Mrs. Arroyo on baseless charges and for which I was eventually acquitted. In other words, I was in jail accused for a crime I did not commit,” he said.

“And yet I did not receive an apology from this administration and neither did my co-accused, Atty. Edward Serapio, who served time for about three years only to be acquitted,” he said.

While he denied threatening Arroyo of jail time, the senator said the President must still account and answer for all the wrongdoings she has made in her nearly nine-year rule.

Also contrary to Arroyo’s claim that the government was on the brink of bankruptcy during the Estrada administration, the senator said the records would show that the former leader left behind at least P71 billion in cash at the National Treasury and about P50 billion in deposits at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

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