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Before any humanitarian consideration:
ERAP SHOULD FIRST SUBMIT HIMSELF TO JURISDICTION OF SANDIGANBAYAN - ALVAREZ
November 18, 2003
Before any decision is made as to whether or not to allow former President Estrada to seek medical
treatment in the United States, it is imperative that he should first accept the jurisdiction of our courts,
especially the Sandiganbayan.
Mr. Estrada has consistently repudiated the jurisdiction not only of the Sandiganbayan but even of the Supreme
Court over his person. He has stoutly maintained that he is the legitimate President of the Republic and
has not resigned and therefore he cannot be prosecuted and is exempt from suit.
While there are compassionate and humanitarian considerations to enable Mr. Estrada to leave for treatment,
the issues against him must be settled first before the Sandiganbayan.
It is not advisable to allow Mr. Estrada to leave the country under present circumstances.
If he should leave the country now, he will be completely relieved of any accountability to
the Sandiganbayan or to any judicial process.
It's Sandiganbayan's Call.
It is not the President but the Sandiganbayan which has the proper
authority to act on former President Estrada's petition to get medical treatment abroad.
The President herself has said so in a number of occasions, and for valid reason - because
Mr. Estrada is being tried before the graft court for plunder.
Government in exile.
If Mr. Estrada is first made to submit himself to the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan,
like Mrs. Imelda Marcos, then the court could unquestionably lay down certain conditions
or restrictions for his travel, like setting a duration for the trip or executing a waiver
for his appearance in court and acquiescence to being tried in absencia if he fails to come
back within the period set, or such other appropriate conditions for the issuance of his
passport, or any arrangement with the host government that his visa will be nothing more
than a permit for medical treatment.
The guarantees must be put in place to bring him back to trial and, that he is being charged
of criminal offense must be established before his departure.
Otherwise, as soon as he gets to the US and stay in a state such as California where the
death penalty is prohibited, Mr. Estrada may file for asylum on the grounds that if he
loses a criminal case, his life will be in jeopardy. This will lay the basis for a government
in exile.
International forum to attack RP.
He cannot be allowed to leave behind a government which he can assault politically
as soon as he leaves our shores. Certainly, he should not be afforded an international
forum to attack the government.
If Estrada is permitted to exit under present circumstances, what would prevent him
from declaring abroad that he is being persecuted in this country? That he is the
legitimate president? That he has never submitted to the jurisdiction of the court
which has therefore no authority to try him?
Any commitment that he is coming back to face trial may be cavalierly, or perhaps
legally argued to set aside any prosecution of any offense where he has resisted
jurisdiction.
Mr. Estrada may even reiterate a facile legitimate claim to the presidency which
has been of public knowledge.
When this should transpire, it is not unthinkable for the former President to evade
the law and his responsibilities and insist to President Arroyo that she is a mere
political interloper.
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