The Beginning
On November 13, 2000, the House of Representatives filed an impeachment complaint against then President Joseph Ejercito Estrada. The complaint stemmed from allegations that Estrada received ₱400 million from jueteng, an illegal numbers game, under a bank account in the name of "Jose Velarde". The suit was brought to the Senate and an impeachment court convened. Estrada pleaded "not guilty".
This was the first time an impeachment complaint ever went up the chain. Previous complaints were always dismissed before it could get anywhere. There was going to be an impeachment trial and everything. Filipinos had never seen anything like this before. It was momentous. The affair was taken as proof that the bad old days of Marcos and his strongman rule were truly over. At long last, the people were going to hold their leaders accountable. It was a victory for justice and for democracy.
It was a mess.
Congress, which was then already well on its hellbound descent to the circus we all know today, was determined to give the Filipino people the greatest show they had ever seen. Make no mistake, this really was a big deal at the time. People were glued to their screens and radios, anxious for every juicy tidbit. From the dusty streets to the air-conditioned boardrooms; from the dingy carenderias to the office water cooler, it seemed like everyone had something to say about the trial and Mr. Jose Velarde.
Personally, I remember that Estrada's impeachment trial had, despite being a supposedly serious matter, a strange fiesta air about it. I was slightly younger then so I couldn't understand the legal arguments or the finer details of the trial, which was just fine apparently since nobody seemed interested in those things anyway. This was drama and people love that. It was funny too. The president became a safe target for comedic sport. "Erap jokes" were so common that it became a genre unto itself, being read and spread far and wide through everyone's NOKIA brick phones.
Erap was asked by a teacher to test his English ability.
Teacher: Use "deduct", "defense", "detail" and "defeat" in a sentence.
Erap: (After 15 minutes of silence) DEDUCT jumped over DEFENSE, DEFEAT first, then DETAIL!
The impeachment trial was running the risk of becoming boring and it was time for some drama. On January 16, 2001, there was a vote on whether the Senate should open a mystery envelope supposedly containing bombshell evidence against Estrada. It would be the smoking gun to prove his guilt once and for all. The Senate blocked it 11-10. The "craven eleven" they cried. There was a dramatic walk-out by the prosecution. Later, the people took to the streets.
Many things were happening but to go over them briefly, an encore performance of the smash hit "People Power" was playing out. The masa calling for his resignation was bad enough for Estrada. But the loss of support from the army and police was much worse. On January 20, 2001, the Chief Justice administered the oath of office to VP Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as the new president while Estrada snuck out through the back door hours later.
Legal Goblledygook
Power, once tasted, is not so easily given up. In a shocking move, Estrada brazenly returned to the scene and claimed that he simply went on leave. It was all a misunderstanding. He called in sick that day, you see. Arroyo was just acting President as far as he was concerned.
The thing was that Estrada was never removed from office by the impeachment court. The show simply hit pause at the bit with the envelope and they lost the remote. To settle matters, they changed the channel to the more dignified court and let loose the lawsuits.
In the landmark cases of Estrada v. Arroyo and Estrada v. Desierto, which I'm sure all Filipinos have read, the Supreme Court unanimously held that Estrada's presidency was over and that Arroyo became the president in his absence. But why or how, exactly? If impeachment wasn't the cause, then it would have to be something else. This didn't seem like a revolution since the VP took over. The system demanded a legal explanation and justification for what the hell just happened.
According to Justices Puno, Vitug, and Pardo, Estrada effectively resigned from his post based on his official statements and some entries in Executive Secretary Angara's diary. He said he was "tired"! (pagod na pagod na ako) So there. Being president is exhausting so he gave up. He resigned. Any dummy can interpret what it all meant. End of story.
On the other hand, Justices Mendoza and Bellosillo argued that Estrada became "permanently disabled" and couldn't...perform anymore. How embarrassing. Estrada could neither command the armed forces nor control the government. Estrada's crippling disability was that people just wouldn't do what he said. So there. That was the reason.
Justices Kapunan and Sandoval-Gutierrez, while agreeing with the rest, stated bluntly that Arroyo's presidency had become an irreversible fact of life and that Estrada was just going to have to deal with it whether he liked it or not. Tough. If you have an issue, grab a tissue.
It was Justice Ynares Santiago's opinion that came dangerously close to the truth. She was of the opinion that mob rule was a dangerous way of changing the government. Mob rule. Feel that in your mouth for a moment. EDSA, the second and by implication the first. Our People Power. Our mob rule. What's unsaid is damning. What happened wasn't constitutional. It wasn't legal. But if we close our eyes, think hard enough and pray, it was all alright. Estrada did it all to himself. Bret screwed Bret. Justice won. Good won. The people won. End of story.
Aftermath
Hindsight is 20/20.
Back then, this was the furthest the process of impeachment ever got. While it never "finished", slowly but surely people were getting more comfortable with the idea. Impeachment was no longer some distant thing but became a Sword of Damocles over the heads of government officials. They would attempt to impeach Arroyo later though the attempts never got off the ground. They would try to impeach Chief Justice Davide too, seemingly out of spite, but that deserves its own section. In retrospect, this was all a grim foreshadowing of what was to come.
I wanted to revisit this chapter of history to try and better understand the utter derangement and insanity afflicting the country today, especially when the Senate seems to have become a madhouse. I want to turn back the clock and follow the muddy footprints down the wrong path.
As for Estrada, he would go down in infamy as the second president to have been removed by popular uprising. He was thoroughly humiliated by the ordeal and his reputation was dragged through the gutter. His name would be forever stained and become synonymous with government corruption and ill-gotten gains. He was a villain in the eyes of the people. He was pardoned by Arroyo in 2007 and was elected Mayor of Manila in 2013. He served two consecutive terms. His son Jinggoy Estrada is, as of this writing, currently a sitting senator of the Philippines and under investigation for corruption.
