One of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo's senior aides said yesterday he will meet with fallen president Joseph Estrada to discuss a possible pardon following his corruption conviction.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said he was due to meet Estrada next week.
"We are trying to find a way to help President Erap [Estrada] out of his predicament. That is what we are focusing on," he said.
"I'm seeing the beginnings of an agreement. Erap is saying he will accept a pardon and the president already said that she is willing to extend a pardon if asked," he told reporters.
"I think the situation is ripe for a solution on this matter. I'm hoping that we can do it before Christmas," he said.
Estrada lawyer Rufus Rodriguez said in a television interview if the pardon was "absolute, unconditional with no admission of guilt, then he will accept the pardon."
The 70-year-old former president, popularly known as "Erap," was sentenced to life in prison last week by a special anti-graft court for receiving millions of dollars in bribes and from insider trading during his 30 months in office.
Estrada, a former movie star, was ousted in a popular uprising spawned by his corruption scandals. Arroyo, his vice president was installed in his stead.
He remains popular with the poor and is still de facto leader of the political opposition which has sought to unseat and embarrass Arroyo.
Puno denied a pardon was intended to halt opposition attacks on Arroyo.
"The palace is used to criticism and attacks on policy," he said.
A group of lawyers who helped prepare the corruption case against Estrada issued a statement opposing a pardon, saying it would amount to political accommodation.
Meanwhile, the Philippine military has suspended or reassigned at least six junior officers sus-pected of recruiting soldiers for a coup attempt against the government, the armed forces chief said yesterday.
The announcement by General Hermogenes Esperon came a day after he said the military uncovered new attempts by some soldiers and officers to prepare for a possible coup.
"We have done some moves short of arresting them, like reassigning them or putting them on hold, and continuing surveillance on them," he told reporters, without offering details.
The Philippine military has been rocked by at least two coup attempts recently. Junior officers demanded President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's resignation in a daylong uprising in July 2003, and last year, the president declared a weeklong state of emergency to pre-empt another alleged plot by restive soldiers to seize power.
Esperon said the latest plot was discovered after some of those targeted for recruitment reported to their superiors about the attempts.
"Our soldiers know their real motive so it will really be hard for these destabilizers to recruit from us," Esperon said.
The military also was looking at the possible involvement of politicians who may capitalize on a scandal linking government officials and President Arroyo's husband to an allegedly overpriced broadband contract with a Chinese company, he said.
Esperon said no movement has been detected among military units, leading officials to believe the recruitment efforts have been unsuccessful.
He said officers detained over last year's plot may have friends among soldiers, "but whether these friendships translate into them being able to order them to join destabilization is altogether a different matter."
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS