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Protests in Philippines against Estrada escalate

29/10/2000

Estrada continues to deny allegations while former President Ramos rejects possibility of a coup

Reuters reported that thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of the Philippine capital Manila on Wednesday, calling for the resignation of embattled President Joseph Estrada over his alleged involvement in gambling scams.
President Estrada has rejected accusations that he received bribes and has denied opposition claims that he planned to declare a state of emergency to curb growing opposition and a move to impeach him on bribery and corruption charges. He has said that he will resign only if it is proven that he took bribes from illegal gambling syndicates. In a radio broadcast speech, he stated emphatically, ?I will answer the charges at the proper time and if I am proven a liar, if it is proven that I accepted a single centavo from illegal gambling or took it from the national coffers, I shall not stay a single minute longer in my position as your president.?
This month, a former friend of the president's, Provincial Governor Luis Singson, said that he had been personally handed Estrada pay-offs amounting to US $100,000 every two weeks, collected from gambling lords running an illegal numbers game called ''jueteng.'' Estrada accuses Singson of being a man of dubious reputation who should not be believed. "Very surprisingly, without even hearing my side they have already condemned me," says Estrada. "We are a government of laws...so I appeal that I be given due process, that I be given my day in court."
Former Philippine President Fidel Ramos dismissed any chance of a coup in the Philippines and said it was unlikely that martial law could be declared in a bid to resolve the country's political crisis. Ramos said that figures involved in previous coup attempts in the Philippines were no longer in positions of power.
The scandal has triggered protest marches across the country and rattled the Philippine financial market. Some of the loudest protests have come from the country?s business elite. This elite have put their support behind Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whose economic credentials they admire. Arroyo has a Ph.D in Economics from Georgetown University, USA and according to their complaints, is far better suited to run the economy and country than Estrada.

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