Erap, first take on guilty verdict: 'This is a political decision'

Former President Joseph Estrada said the decision of the Sandiganbayan to convict him of plunder was a "political decision." "As expected, this Special Division was created to convict me," Estrada told journalists as he was led out of the courtroom. "What is important is the support of the people, and they have overwhelmingly acquitted me. This is a political decision," he said. The former president said he agreed to submit himself to the court and face the charges filed against him because the Sandiganbayan is the “only forum" where he could tell his side of the story. Deposed President Joseph Estrada, who once pulled off the biggest election victory in Philippine history, was convicted Wednesday after a landmark six-year-old trial on charges that he took bribes and kickbacks in office. Estrada was convicted of plunder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was acquitted of perjury for allegedly falsely declaring his assets. Riot police and troops kept hundreds of flag-waving Estrada backers several blocks from the Sandiganbayan, the anti-graft court that the former action film star inaugurated before he was ousted in January 2001 by the country's second “people power" revolt. Republic Act 7080 imposes a penalty of “reclusion perpetua" for the crime of plunder, meaning imprisonment ranging from 20 years and one day to 40 years, “with civil interdiction of marital authority and of disposal of property, and perpetual absolute disqualification from public office or profession." Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, an Estrada ally and a lawyer, said that under the Penal Code, the period of Estrada’s preventive imprisonment at his Tanay estate will be deducted from his term of imprisonment. The Sandiganbayan found Estrada “guilty beyond reasonable doubt" for plunder for receiving P545-million in protection money from operators of the numbers racket jueteng and for receiving P189.7 million commission from Belle Corp. for the purchase of P1.8 billion worth of shares of stocks by the Social Security System (SSS) and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). The two other "predicate" crimes for plunder involving diversion of P130-million in the tobacco excise tax share of Ilocos Sur for 1998 under Republic Act No. 7171 and for accumulating deposits running up to P3.23-billion under the “Jose Velarde" account with Equitable PCIBank were dismissed for insufficiency of evidence. The antigraft court, however, found Estrada not guilty of perjury or for violation of Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code for false declaration of his 1999 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth in which he claimed to have a net worth of only P35 million. Estrada’s son, Jinggoy Estrada, and lawyer Edward Serapio were found not guilty of plunder. - GMANews.TV