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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
The Department of Justice is now mulling the
possible revocation of the pardon given to former president Joseph
Estrada after he called President Gloria Arroyo’s stay in power
“illegitimate.”
Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor said
Estrada should refrain from calling the Arroyo government
“illegitimate” because he is risking his conditional pardon.
“The President cannot be illegitimate because
his [Estrada] pardon would be the same,” Blancaflor said.
“Definitely, the mere fact that the President is illegitimate will
put Mr. Estrada’s pardon in question because he received it from
President Arroyo.”
The Justice department is also studying
Estrada’s call for the military to act against the administration,
and his offer himself as caretaker pre-sident if Mrs. Arroyo steps
down.
“It is another matter which is under study,”
Blancaflor said, adding there’s no legal basis for anybody to
become “caretaker”.
In case President Arroyo is deposed, only the
vice-president could assume the presidency based on the
Constitution.
“A caretaker government is alien to the
Constitution. The government is not a nursing home that needs a caretaker
in times of crisis,” Blancaflor said.
Put pressure on Arroyo to resign
In an interview with foreign TV network Al-Jazeera,
Estrada called President Arroyo an “illegitimate president” and
urged civil society groups to put pressure on the administration
until she steps down.
Estrada, who was ousted from Malacañang in 2001
through a “people power” uprising, had earlier urged the
military high command to join hands with the people in urging
President Arroyo to step down in the light of the broadband
controversy currently hounding her administration.
In his first appearance at the annual Panagbenga
festival in Baguio City after he was pardoned by Mrs. Arroyo in
2007, Estrada claimed that diverse sectors in the country have
stepped up the call for the President’s resignation.
“It is not only [members of the] opposition
who are calling for her ouster. [Now], even students, laborers, who
do not belong to any political party, and even [members of the]
religious sectors are now joining hands for her to resign,”
Estrada said.
“I call on all sectors, especially the men in
uniform, to heed the call of the people, pursuant to their Constitutional
role as protector of the sovereign people,” Estrada added.
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