Philippine President Joseph Estrada yesterday faced escalating protests nationwide following the indefinite suspension of his impeachment trial over bribery and corruption charges.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets for the third consecutive day in Manila and other key provincial cities in a bid to force Estrada to step down.
PHOTO: AP
Opposition leaders urged more people to join the demonstrations amid reports that "the military will come in" as soon as the number of protesters swelled to one million.
But Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said the rallyists would be disappointed if they were waiting for the military or the police to take sides in the country's worst political crisis in years.
"If they are waiting for military intervention, they will wait in vain," he said. "The military has decided not to engage in partisan politics."
Political analyst Alex Magno, president of the Foundation for Economic Freedom, however, noted that "about 80 to 90 percent of the officer corps of the military" and the police was already against the president.
"The military is desperately holding on to its institutional integrity," he said.
The center of the protests in Manila is the EDSA Shrine, a church built to mark the highway where millions of Filipinos converged in 1986 for a four-day popular revolt that overthrew late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Thousands joined a "human chain" extending about 10km from Ayala Avenue in the financial district of Makati to the EDSA Shrine in the commercial district of Ortigas, where Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jaime Sin held a mass.
"This is the time for courage," Sin told the crowd. "This is the time for heroes. This is the season for martyrs."
Anti-Estrada protesters had scheduled a march to the presidential palace today, but cancelled the plan amid warnings that a showdown could occur with supporters of the president staging daily rallies outside Malacanang.
"We decided to cancel the march because we don't want violence," said Teddy Lopez, a spokesman for the Congress of the Filipino People, a coalition of groups calling for Estrada's resignation.
The protests were boosted yesterday when a key movie ally of Estrada withdrew her support for the president. A deputy director general of a key government economic agency also quit due to the political crisis.
The turmoil erupted when the Senate voted 11-10 on Tuesday disallowing the inspection of documents, which prosecutors say would show that Estrada hid US$66 million in secret bank accounts under the fake name Jose Velarde.
Many perceived the vote as a "virtual acquittal" of Estrada, forcing 11 congressmen to quit as prosecutors in the president's trial for charges of bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust and violations of the constitution.
The trial, which began on Dec. 7, was suspended indefinitely on Wednesday. Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide, presiding officer in the trial, said the proceedings would resume as soon as the House of Representatives acts on the prosecution's resignation.
House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella said the chamber was "inclined not to accept the resignation of the prosecutors." He met with the 11 prosecutors later yesterday, but failed to convince them to return to the trial.
Congressman Joker Arroyo, one of the prosecutors, said the panel might only reconsider its decision "if the defense says Estrada will take the witness stand."
Estrada would be removed from office before the end of his six-year term in 2004 if two-thirds of the 22-member Senate find him guilty in any of the four articles of impeachment. The Senate hopes to hand down a verdict on Feb. 12.
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