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By Francis
Earl Cueto, Reporter
The Philippine
opposition will ask the country’s special antigraft court to allow
former President Joseph Estrada to be released from house arrest so
he can campaign for May 14 midterm election.
Opposition
spokesman Adel Tamano told reporters on Sunday that a motion would
be filed in the Sandiganbayan today seeking permission for
“Estrada’s participation” in the campaign.
Estrada, who
is under house arrest and on trial for corruption six years after a
military-backed “people power” revolt ended his rule, still
remains a major political force in the country.
On Sunday he
was given permission to visit his mother, who is 102, at her home in
suburban Manila.
The grand
opposition (GO) Senate slate and other politicians flocked to the
Greenhills residence to have their campaign photos taken with the
still popular deposed leader. Missing from the group were Senate
President Manny Villar and Sen. Francis Pangilinan, two
“independents” adopted by the GO.
Media were
prevented from going near Estrada for interviews but politicians
milled around, taking turns having their hands raised by the former
actor.
Flown by
helicopter from his farm on the outskirts of Manila, he was greeted
by scores of supporters and opposition candidates.
One of the
first to greet him was Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. In 2004,
Lacson ran for president against Estrada’s actor friend, the late
Fernando Poe Jr.
The former
president’s arrival was delayed by two hours. Reports said the
chopper sent to fetch him from his Tanay estate was late.
Estrada is
under house arrest as he awaits the decision on his plunder trial.
The government recently moved to take away his visiting privileges
and even his mobile phone, claiming a communist plot on his life.
Both the
communists and the Estrada camp have dismissed the government claim
as a mask for suppressing the opposition campaign for the 2007
election.
Motion
Lawyers for
Estrada are expected to file their motion on Monday.
Tamano said:
“They will ask the court to lift the travel and media ban against
Estrada.”
He said they
would also ask that he be allowed to move from his farm in Tanay,
just outside of Manila, to his home in suburban San Juan.
“Media
should have access to him,” he told local media.
“He’s a
national figure . . . [and] he should be free to campaign,” Tamano
said.
He said
Estrada was “frustrated because he wants to be part of this
process” of elections.
Tamano said
that while the opposition understood the police restrictions on
Estrada’s movements, they knew that the orders came from “up
above.”
Lacson also
questioned the timing of the government in holding Estrada
incommunicado.
“The one
tightening the screws on Estrada is not the graft court but the
executive department. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to
read between the lines,” he told local media.
Endorsements
Estrada was
busy all day meeting candidates, all the way down to mayoralty
races.
Among those
who were endorsed by Estrada included former internal revenue
commissioner Rufus Rodriguez for congressman either in Misamis
Oriental or Cagayan de Oro, Raul Daza for Samar governor, Edwin
Olivares for Laguna governor and Luis “Baby” Asistio for
congressman of Caloocan City.
Also endorsed
were Alfredo Lim for Manila mayor, and San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora.
Lacson spent a
long time talking to Estrada, said an insider who described the two
men as in “kiss and makeup mood.”
Lacson, before
formally joining the opposition coalition, was quoted as saying that
candidates do not need Estrada’s endorsement for them to win in
the elections.
 --AFP
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