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I'm Still Philippines President, Says Defiant Estrada
MANILA, Jan 31 (News Agencies) - Deposed Philippine leader Joseph Estrada defiantly insisted Wednesday he was still president and said his successor Gloria Arroyo would have to make way for him if, and when, he decides to return.
In his first public appearance 11 days after a military-backed popular revolt ended his 30-month-old rule, Estrada rejected calls for his banishment and vowed to take legal steps to shore up the legitimacy of his claim.
"I abandoned Malacanang [presidential palace] but not my post," he told thousands of cheering party supporters at a sports club two blocks away from his suburban Manila mansion.
"Pursuant to the provisions of our constitution, therefore, I remain the duly elected president. I am only on leave now."
The Supreme Court had declared the presidency vacant and swore in Arroyo as the new president after Estrada's support from the military and the bureaucracy collapsed amid huge street protests.
Even though the world community has recognized Arroyo's government and a popular survey released Wednesday showed that Filipinos have accepted the succession, Estrada insisted his successor "is still the vice president. The appointments she made are all temporary."
Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Estrada could be "trying to induce some forces outside [the military chain of command] for support."
Military chief of staff General Angelo Reyes warned anyone plotting to destabilize the new government to "think again", saying "the legal and de facto and de jure president of the Philippines is Gloria Arroyo."
Estrada vowed to "pursue justice" to spare the country "a legacy of a banana republic where presidents are changed on the basis of a coup d'etat or a withdrawal of support by the military."
He said he would resort to "peaceful, legal and non-violent means" and ruled out using "acts of destabilization."
His party offered him the post of party president and national chairman Wednesday, and also issued a shortlist of senatorial candidates led by his wife Luisa Ejercito. Congressional polls are scheduled for May 14th.
Arroyo asserted the legality of her rule on Tuesday, when she accused Estrada allies of destabilizing her government using his alleged "ill-gotten wealth."
The new government has launched a criminal inquiry into Estrada's assets, frozen a number of his bank accounts, and barred him from leaving the country - even though some segments of the new government want him to go into exile.
Officials are also taking depositions from a number of his former business cronies who have offered to testify against him in exchange for immunity from suit.
Estrada alleged these moves were meant to "to legalize and deodorize" an unlawful succession.
Estrada on Wednesday contested the freeze order, and sought "administrative and criminal actions" against tax officials who issued the order.
"We are faced today with the grave and overpowering constitutional crisis," Estrada said.
It "cannot be simply resolved by putting me in exile or subjecting me to harassment, threats and other forms of intimidation."
He asserted more than 10 million people, outnumbering the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets to demand his resignation, elected him president. He also stressed he had not been convicted by any court.
At the same election, Arroyo won more than 12 million votes as vice president.
Estrada was impeached in November and stood trial in the Senate for allegedly taking bribes from illegal gambling bosses, embezzling government funds and interfering in the work of securities regulators.
He would have been thrown out of office if convicted, but the trial ended abruptly after a majority of senators suppressed potentially damning evidence against him.
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