MANILA, Philippines -- What pardon?

This was the response of deposed president Joseph Estrada when asked about the status of the pardon talks between him and Palace officials.

"What pardon? I only read those in the newspapers," Estrada said during a chance interview after he visited his ailing mother Dona Mary Ejercito at the San Juan Medical Center Friday.

Estrada said he would continue his battle in court to prove his innocence.

"If possible we will fight up to the Supreme Court," added Estrada, who managed to issue comments despite a court-imposed ban on media interviews.

Earlier in the day, Estrada's lawyer Jose Flaminiano said he would seek permission from the Sandiganbayan to allow Estrada to attend the oral arguments set October 19 for his verdict appeal.

A similar motion will also be filed Monday next week, seeking permission for a three-day pass to allow Estrada to stay with his 102-year-old mother, said Flaminiano.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who talked with Estrada about the possibility of a presidential pardon, meanwhile said Malacañang could only grant a clemency once the court decides with finality on Estrada’s guilty verdict.

"We will let them exhaust all legal remedies," Puno told INQUIRER.net.

A week after the September 12 verdict on Estrada was handed down, Puno met the former president for a possibility of a presidential pardon. But the informal negotiation yielded no positive result.

Estrada, a popular movie star who became president in 1998, was ousted by a military-backed people revolt amid allegations of massive corruption. His then vice president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took over the post in 2001.