Full coverage: Estrada Trial special site

MANILA, Philippines -- “I took a gamble,” Joseph Estrada said -- and the nation watched as the gambler lost.

In generally subdued proceedings that lasted barely 15 minutes and broadcast live on radio and television, the Sandiganbayan’s Special Division Wednesday pronounced the 70-year-old ousted President guilty of plunder and sentenced him up to 40 years in prison. He left the courtroom teary-eyed and trailed by weeping family members and supporters.

The event was marked by irony, with Estrada the biggest fish to be convicted in the anti-graft courthouse he himself inaugurated during his presidency on June 1, 1999.

The building on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, displays his name on a marker “dedicating” the courthouse “to the Filipino people in their fight against graft and corruption in the government.”

It was a grim moment for the former cinema idol and political kingpin, who was impeached by the House of Representatives in November 2000 and driven out of Malacañang by a people power uprising two months later.

But the anti-graft court’s special division created to try him declared him innocent of perjury, a lesser charge citing him for underreporting his assets in 1999.

It also acquitted his son, Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, and his former legal counsel, Edward Serapio, who were also charged along with six others in the P4-billion plunder case.

Estrada will stay “until further notice” at his vacation estate in Tanay, Rizal, his detention quarters since 2004, according to an order issued in open court by Presiding Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro.

‘Not once but twice’

In a statement issued shortly after the promulgation, Senator Estrada assailed the court for purportedly following Malacañang’s dictates.

He said his father had suffered “a miscarriage of justice not once but twice,” referring to the latter’s aborted impeachment trial in the Senate in January 2001.

“With due respect to our magistrates, I am deeply convinced that our case was decided not on the basis of merits ... but to justify the unconstitutional and forcible removal of a sitting President ... This verdict is intended to legitimize the occupancy of an illegal tenant in Malacañang,” the senator said.

He predicted mass actions protesting the decision: “No doubt our people will receive this with moral outrage and disgust, knowing that it was a decision contrived to avoid the anomalous situation where a legitimately elected President was charged and illegally removed, only to be subsequently exonerated.”

He also said he was “appalled” that the verdict was supposedly leaked at least a month before the promulgation.

Gasps in courtroom

The ousted President himself correctly predicted the verdict on Monday, quoting “reliable sources.”

Despite the speculations preceding the promulgation, gasps were heard across the packed courtroom as the plunder verdict was read out by clerk of court Teresita Pabulayan.

“So ordered,” Pabulayan said in conclusion at 9:28 a.m., with the two Estradas and Serapio standing facing her at the center aisle, where three chairs had been especially placed for them.

Standing behind Estrada at the reading of the decision were two members of his defense team, father and son Jose and Jay Flaminiano.

When the reading was over, Estrada shook his head slightly and was the first to take his seat among the accused. He coughed once, kept his head bowed for about two minutes, and then spoke in a whisper to Serapio.

‘He’s ready’

Addressing the court, the elder Flaminiano asked for time on behalf of the other defense lawyers to “study our options” after going over the 212-page decision in the plunder case.

As Flaminiano spoke, lead defense counsel Rene Saguisag rose to confer with Estrada.

Saguisag subsequently told the court that his client had “absolutely no desire for special treatment” with regard to the terms of his imprisonment.

“If it means he moves to [the national penitentiary in] Muntinlupa today, he’s ready, your honor,” Saguisag said.

Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio rose and said something about the defense team being “at a loss.” He was cut short by Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta.

Saguisag shot back at Villa-Ignacio, letting out what was probably the only remark said in anger during the proceedings.

Silent weeping

“Till the very end we have to put up with snide remarks. There shouldn’t be a sore winner,” said Saguisag, who is himself known for acerbic language during hearings and who was once ordered to leave the courtroom after a shouting match with a justice.

De Castro intervened, saying: “Never mind, never mind ... We started well and I hope we end well.”

As he was being led out of the courtroom, Estrada, eyes red, said: “Well, as we’ve expected [and said] before, this court was created to convict me.”

“I subjected myself to the rule of law, against the advice of my friends,” he said, adding that facing the charges at the Sandiganbayan was then deemed “the only venue” for him to maintain his innocence after his impeachment trial was cut short by a walkout by the prosecutors.

“I took a gamble,” said the hugely popular politician who had managed to turn his well-known penchant for wine, women and gambling into a winning charm.

“I thought the rule of law would prevail over here. This is really a kangaroo court. This is a political decision,” The Associated Press quoted him as saying.

Behind Estrada, his wife, former Sen. Loi Ejercito, and their children Jinggoy and Jackie, began to shed tears.

But it was a silent weeping, broken by agitated reporters shouting for a statement from the new convict.

Open and shut

The promulgation was like an open-and-shut case.

Senator Estrada arrived at the courtroom at around 9:05 a.m., accompanied by his wife Precy and brother Jude.

The ousted President walked in eight minutes later with his wife Loi, Jackie and her husband Beaver Lopez, and San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, his son by former actress Guia Gomez.

Among Estrada’s political allies in attendance were Mayors Jejomar Binay of Makati, Alfredo Lim of Manila, Toby Tiangco of Navotas, and Edward Hagedorn of Puerto Princesa, and Representatives Crispin Remulla of Cavite and Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City.

A smiling Estrada managed to work the gallery, pressing flesh, before the justices entered and had the session declared open.

After leading the court’s traditional opening prayer, De Castro asked the defense panel if it would like the verdict in the plunder and perjury cases read in full -- a right accorded accused parties.

Flaminiano replied that at Estrada’s “request,” only the dispositive portion -- or the final paragraphs containing the verdict -- may be read.

The acquittal in the perjury case was read out first. Minutes later, Estrada was declared guilty of plunder “beyond reasonable doubt.” With a report from Dona Pazzibugan