Prosecutors In Estrada Trial Resign

The prosecutors in Philippine President Joseph Estrada's impeachment trial resigned Tuesday, the Senate president quit and noisy protests erupted in Manila after the Senate denied prosecutors access to crucial evidence.

Before they quit en masse, prosecutors said the Senate vote blocking them from seeing key bank documents foreshadows an acquittal for Estrada. Their resignation later in the day threw the impeachment process into chaos.

The 11-10 vote keeps prosecutors away from what they say would be the most damaging evidence yet that Estrada grew rich off corruption from 18 months in office. It infuriated anti-Estrada members of the Senate.

Some were near tears afterward, and one was openly weeping. Senate President Pimentel Aquilino and Senate Secretary Lutgardo Barbo angrily resigned in protest, followed by the entire team of House prosecutors.

"We will tender our irrevocable letter of resignation as prosecutors," said Rep. Sergio Apostol, one of the congressmen. "To us, prosecuting is already a sham. The impeachment court is already tainted with bias."

As news of the vote hit the streets, car horns and fireworks erupted in various parts of Manila shortly before midnight. Several protesters built a bonfire in a major street and gathered to bash cans, yell and make other noise.

Hundreds of others, including former President Corazon Aquino and several senators, held a candlelight vigil at a shrine dedicated to the 1986 popular uprisings that ousted the late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos.

Drivers formed a vehicle procession in Bacolod, in the central Philippines, blasting horns in unison as protesters rallied in front of the provincial capital building. Other protests were reported in the cities of Cebu and Davao, and opposition groups asked Filipinos to wear black in mourning Wednesday.

The Philippines' senators are also the impeachment trial judges. If 11 senators take Estrada's side, he would be acquitted in February, when the trial is scheduled to end. A two-thirds Senate vote is needed for a conviction.

Rep. Joker Arroyo, one of the congressmen who was serving as a prosecutor, said the bank account records the senators voted to keep sealed would have proved that Estrada amassed an undeclared $63.5 million in bribes and kickbacks under four aliases.

"This is a shameless vote of acquittal," Arroyo said. "This means there are 11 senators there who are in the pocket of the president."

Estrada, a former action movie star, was elected in 1998 with an unprecedented electoral majority. But he was enveloped in scandal beginning in October, when Ilocos Sur provincial Gov. Luis Singson accused him of taking more than dlrs 7.7 million in bribes from illegal gambling lords and dlrs 2.5 million in tobacco tax kickbacks.

Estrada has been on trial in the Senate since December, facing an impeachment process similar to that used in the United States. He faces charges of corruption, briber, betrayal of public trust and violation of the constitution.

Earlier Tuesday, Arroyo appealed to the impeachment tribunal to open the disputed bank records "to demonstrate that we cannot have this president because he cannot even respect our banking laws."

"We want to show how the president amassed $63.5 million in a span of one and a half years," Arroyo said. "We want to open the mystery of the savings account."

But Estrada lawyer Estelito Mendoza argued that the impeachment court should bar access to the bank documents. He said an alleged account prosecutors want access to was not specified in the impeachment complaint and is therefore beyond the tribunal's jurisdiction.

Senators who voted to keep the envelope sealed echoed the defense argument in explaining their decision.

"The articles of impeachment is not an open-ended charge sheet that can be expanded from day to day as new evidence is discovered," said pro-Estrada Sen. Teresita Aquino-Oreta, a sister-in-law of former President Corazon Aquino.

The prosecution, which was to wind up its case in coming days, said the bank documents were crucial to proving charges against Estrada. Tuesday's vote, and the prosecution's resignation, leaves the future of the case unclear.

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