Philippine President Joseph Estrada on Saturday brushed aside new corruption allegations over the sale of the country's telecom giant, and mocked the opposition as suffering from "hallucination" for trying to force him to step down.
Meanwhile, his supporters said they were preparing for a "prayer rally" later Saturday expected to attract as many as a million people.
Speaking on his weekly radio show, Estrada vowed to step up his campaign to fight back against charges he had received millions of dollars in payoffs from illegal gambling bosses.
He ridiculed opposition boasts that they would be in power by the end of the year, saying "in our constitution, we have freedom of expression, we have freedom of assembly but there is also freedom of hallucination and freedom of imagination."
A former Estrada friend, provincial governor Luis Singson sparked the scandal last month when he alleged he personally handed kickbacks to Estrada.
This has led to a growing clamor for Estrada's resignation. Congressmen are scheduled to resume impeachment hearings against Estrada this week, likely to be followed by a trial in the Senate.
Estrada said his earlier refusal to comment on the allegations was at the advice of his lawyers, but that this had allowed Singson to freely berate him in Senate hearings for a month.
"People think that since I did not respond, that I was guilty. Silence implies guilt so I did not not follow my lawyers anymore and let the truth come out," Estrada said.
This led to an admission earlier this week that Singson had deposited some 200 million pesos (3.8 million dollars) in alleged illegal gambling funds into a private charitable foundation, set up by Estrada, supposedly without the president's knowledge.
"It just proves he is engaged in (illegal gambling) and was going to use it to hurt me," said Estrada.
He rejected opposition charges that the money was proof of his guilt, saying "they are always putting a new spin on it."
Estrada also shrugged off allegations by another critic, former securities watchdog Perfecto Yasay, he received a billion pesos for paving the way for the acquisition of telecom giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. by Metro Pacific Corp., the local arm of Hong Kong's First Pacific group.
Estrada charged that Yasay had long been lying and conniving with the opposition to discredit him.
"This shows the shamelessness of these men," he said, referring to Singson and Yasay, adding that they would likely run as candidates in local and congressional elections in May.
Estrada, who has taken a beating from critics in the past month, has been on the offensive this week, giving lengthy radio interviews and speaking at a foreign correspondents' forum to reject the charges against him.
Meanwhile, Estrada aides continued their preparations for a massive prayer rally at Manila's central park later Saturday which is widely expected to gather almost a million religious supporters.
Although Estrada has insisted the rally is non-political, the opposition has charged it is clearly intended as a response to a huge anti-Estrada "prayer rally" led by Roman Catholic bishops last Saturday.
That rally brought more than 60,000 people to the city center to call for Estrada's resignation.
Estrada had earlier declared Saturday a non-working holiday for the prayer rally and government agencies are reported to have asked their employees to attend -- MANILA (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
