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EXAMINE WITH Pres. Joseph Estrada

Interview date: 20 November 2009

H: Howie Severino

E: Joseph Estrada

H: Hello, I’m Howie Severino and this is Examine, the first and only Q & A web show in the Philippines that asks your top ten questions for Election 2010 aspirants and experts. And today, we are examining former President Joseph Estrada. Good day, sir.

E: Good day, Howie.

H: Sir, in general, marami pong nagtatanong ngayon. Bakit kayo tatakbo ulit?

E: One simple answer – because my term was abruptly interrupted. I was unconstitutionally removed and I served only for two and a half years. You know, my tenure of office is supposed to be six years.

H: So kumbaga, para sa inyo, meron kayong unfinished business.

E: Oh yes, a lot of unfinished business, especially my project for our downtrodden, for our marginalized people.

H: So ano ang pinaka-unang order or action ang gagawin niyo pag kayo’y nahalal?

E: Well, the same thing. The problem of government is, first of all, food security. Coz there are many people now who are suffering hunger. Hungry stomach knows no law. So that should be number one.

H: Sir, may mga tanong galing sa Internet. Ito po’y galing ka Bernard M na pinadala po through Yahoo! Answers, “If in the event the Supreme Court decides that you can’t run for president, what would be your options?”

E: Well, I refuse to think of that as of now. Well, I would say that I believe I have a strong case because even in the deliberation of the constitutional commissioners, the case of the president who only served for two and a half years was not deliberated upon. But you know, with the case of a vice president who takes over or assume as president, and he or she serves less than four years, she can still run for election.

H: From Sarah Montemayor, a researcher from Palawan, “What lessons did you learn from EDSA DOS?”

E: If she saw President Cory Aquino, she made a public apology in Makati that she pleads guilty for joining EDSA DOS and she apologized to me personally, “Lahat naman tayo nagkakamali, patawarin mo na ako.” So the very respected president of the country, the icon of democracy, apologized to me personally in public. And even the respected, the premiere prime minister of Singapore said that the change of power in the Philippines is no good for democracy because it was done outside the constitution.

H: Ito naman po galing kay Dodong Binsoy from Marikina, “May natutunan ba kayo sa loob ng kulungan na pwede niyong ibahagi sa mga kabataan?”

E: Ang natutunan ko dun, wag tayong mawawalan ng pag-asa habang may Panginoon, sapagkat may kasabihan nga sa atin na pag kayo’y nasa tugatog ng tagumpay, marami kayong kaibigan, marami kayong kumpare, marami kayong kamag-anak, pero pag bumagsak kayo, nawawala lahat pati kamag-anak…dun ko nakita, that’s what I learned, that the marginalized people, yung masang Pilipino, yung mga mahihirap, hindi iniwan si Erap. Kaya binoto si Dra. Loi at si Jinggoy, yung anak ko. Hindi sila naniwala sa media, yung nakasisira sa akin sa media.

H: Si Joemyr Yabut, a seaman from Pampangga. May tanong po siya, “Isa po akong seaman at alam naman po natin na malaki rin ang remittances naming mga marino sa bayan. Ano ang plataporma ninyo tungkol sa aming mga marino? Wala kaming benepisyo na makukuha kung sakaling kami ay huminto na sa pagsakay.”

E: Sila ang bibigyan ko ng prioridad kapag ako’y naging pangulo. Kasi nung unang-unang upo ko lang, wala pang isang linggo, lahat yung mga OFWs pagdating dito sa airport, walang inspeksyon.

H: Sir madalas niyo rin purihin yung mga mahihirap at batikusin yung mga mayayaman. Pero meron din po kayong mga kaibigang mga mayayaman. So kasama ba sila dito sa mga binabatikus niyo? I mean, sinasabi niyong medyo nang-aapi sa mga mahihirap.

E: Ah hindi naman. Di naman lahat ng mayayaman. Yung mga mayayaman na malaking negosyante, nakakalimutan nila yung sinasabi nilang corporate social responsibility. Dapat kung mayaman ng malaking malaking negosyo ka, hindi mo kakalimutan social responsibility.

H: Sir ito naman galing kay Faye Ilogon from Quezon City, “What is your definition of immorality?”

E: Well, it depends upon what you’re doing. Maraming klase ng definition yan. I cannot define it in one sentence. Baka siya may definition, bigyan niya ako ng konti nang matuto ako.

H: Ito naman related question galing kay Joey, sent through Yahoo! Answers, “If elected president again, how would you handle a possible plunder case against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Would you also pardon her if she is convicted?”

E: Well there’s the court that we have to respect. She has to undergo the due process of law. And then if she’s convicted, that’s it. You know, I stayed in prison for six and a half years. This much I have to tell you, that in less than a month I stepped down as president, Malacanang sent Secretary of Justice Nani Perez to me and offered me twice. I can leave to the country of my choice, I can bring anything I want to, there’ll be no cases filed against me, on the condition that I resign as the president of the Republic of the Philippines in writing. Twice I was offered. Maybe Howie, if I am guilty, in the first offer I could run away and leave the country. But because I was not guilty, what I told Nani Perez, the secretary of Justice, “I’m sorry, I cannot take your offer.”

H: Sir, ito naman galing kay omeij_88 sent through Yahoo! Answers, “The Visiting Forces Agreement was ratified in the Senate during your administration. Now that its constitutionality is being questioned, will you favor its continuity or will you lead in its abrogation?”

E: Well, I would say that I must admit that it was ratified during my administration, but there are safeguards in it. Right now, they are not following that safeguards. (sic) They’re only allowed to stay here three to six months a year. Now they are staying there in Mindanao permanently. That should be the one to be questioned. But in the other way, they were also a big help. They trained our soldiers with the more sophisticated weapons now, and of course they also help in subduing the terrorism now in Mindanao.

H: Sir, ano yung view niyo sa population issue. Do you believe in reproductive health, reproductive health bill, artificial contraceptives, government funding for services for condoms, pills, IUDs, that kind of thing?

E: Well definitely, first, I would like to say that I am 101% against abortion. Given that, I am in favor of the reproductive bill because it doesn’t say there that abortion is included there. For me, abortion is criminal so I’m against that. But I am for, especially giving freedom for the women to choose what size of family they want, you know. In my experience, being a president for two and half years, I could see that population is one of the major problems of our country…There are so many malnourished children. And children who can’t go to school, so they become potential prostitute, potential criminals, due to no fault of their own, because they were not given opportunities in life. So this is the cause of this population.

H: So in other words, you don’t oppose artificial methods of family planning.

E: Well, it’s just that I believe we should educate our people especially the women. Give them more freedom. (H: Freedom to choose.) Yes, freedom of choice.

H: So there would be government services to provide artificial contraceptives

E: Yes

H: So you wouldn’t be concerned about church opposition about this.

E: No, no.

H: You spent some six and a half years in prison. You would think that other powerful people… I would never know how that feels. Other powerful people would say, well, “I should be clean, I should be honest otherwise baka ako rin mapaalis. Ako rin mapatalsik.”

E: Howie, for your information, I can show you the decision when they convicted me. They tried me on four counts. I was only convicted on two counts – jueteng and commission on a private corporation. Jueteng, I am not a beneficiary of that. It was placed in the Erap Muslim youth foundation and the beneficiary was the Muslim students for them to continue their studies in college.

H: Sinasabi nga, yan ang sugal ng mga mahihirap. Yung casino, sugal ng mga mayayaman. So would you support legalizing jueteng?

E: That was my first privilege speech in the senate, to legalize jueteng.

H: And up to know you still believe that?

E: Yes. According to the study, there are about 163,000 who are kubrador, kabo for jueteng.

H: And you don’t think it’s immoral, or there’s nothing unethical about it?

E: It’s gambling, pure gambling. Only it’s illegal gambling. Why is the government legalizing casino? It’s gambling, it’s a numbers game…Bakit hindi natin i-legalize? Kikita pa ang gobyerno…Eh bakit dito sinong nakikinabang ngayon? Yung mga pulis, yung mga local official. Corruption.

H: Yan ba yung dahilan kung bakit hanggang ngayon illegal pa rin siya, kasi may mga nakikinabang dyan sa baba?

E: Yeah. Oo, definitely, paputol ko yung leeg ko kung hindi totoo. I know that. I’ve been a mayor for 17 years. I know that. That is why I want them to legalize. Kung we legalize this casino, this cockfighting, ang dami. This is only a numbers game. Why don’t we legalize our own invention?

H: Galing po sa isang estudyante from Quezon City, Josh Tan. What is your vision for the Philippines?

E: In the early 50s, we were number two to Japan in terms of economic growth. We were richer than Hong Kong, than Taiwan, even than South Korea…Now where are we? Then we were number two in terms of economic growth, now we’re number two in corruption, number two to the last. Bangladesh na lang yata tayo nauna…Lahat ng image natin sa international community sirang-sira na. kawawa naman tayo. So my dream is to bring back that image of our country by putting up an image that we are a strong government. We can impose our own laws in our own land, and then of course we have to be economically stable…So peace and order is very important. We have to finish all these secessionist movement and this insurgency, so that we can really have a strong image that we really have a good government that is respected by our constitutency. That is what I envision for our people, for our country.

H: And that concludes our interview. We have just examined former president Joseph Estrada. Thank you sir.

E: Welcome.