Manila's Estrada says confident of court victory

MANILA, June 28: Deposed Philippine President Joseph Estrada, under house arrest since 2001, said he was confident an anti-graft court would clear him of plunder charges after prosecutors abruptly ended their questioning today.

Estrada, who won a landslide victory in the 1998 presidential election with huge support from poor voters, is accused of amassing up to million from state coffers and bribes while in power for 31 months.

The former film star denies the charges, which set off his overthrow in a popular revolt in January 2001 that was backed by generals and Roman Catholic bishops.

''They have not presented anything to destroy my testimony,'' Estrada, 69, told reporters after the once-a-week court session.

''I'm just surprised why the special prosecutor was asking me irrelevant questions. The truth has finally come. I'm innocent and these were all made-up charges against me.'' It was Estrada's 11th and last appearance on the witness stand. The court will resume on July 17 to allow both sides to present more evidence.

Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio had tried to discredit Estrada's defence, saying the former leader gave false statements last month that he never gave government guarantees to loans taken out by state companies.

For the second week, the three judges stopped Villa-Ignacio from playing a video disc and displaying photos that allegedly show Estrada signing a loan agreement with an Argentine company to repair a power plant near Manila in 1998.

''You're wasting our time,'' Teresita Leonardo de Castro, head of the anti-graft court, told Villa-Ignacio. ''You cannot present evidence on collateral matters that have no bearing on the main issue of this case.'' A visibly frustrated Villa-Ignacio then ended his questioning, telling the court he got enough statements to nail down Estrada for corruption.

''We are very comfortable with direct cross-examination,'' he told reporters, saying he was able to get Estrada to admit he got 200 million pesos (3.7 million dollars) from an illegal numbers game and tobacco taxes, and had kept it at a bank for Muslim scholars.

Three weeks ago, Estrada accused his successor, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, of conspiring with a group of business leaders, some bishops and a handful of generals to oust him from power through fabricated plunder charges.

A verdict in his five-year-old trial could come later this year. Many analysts expect Arroyo to grant Estrada a pardon if he is convicted to cool political anger lingering from her rise to power and a failed impeachment attempt against her last year.

REUTERS