MANILA, Philippines -- As far as former president Joseph Estrada is concerned, the graft charges against former justice secretary Hernando Perez is not only too light but “long overdue.”

Perez should have been charged with plunder, a non-bailable offense, because the money he allegedly extorted amounted to $2 million, said the deposed leader, who himself was convicted of plunder before being pardoned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Under Philippine law, a public officer who accumulates at least P50 million in illegal wealth is guilty of plunder.

"Why only charge him with graft and corruption? It should be plunder, which is non-bailable," Estrada said on radio Thursday. He added that the case against Perez was "long overdue" and that the Ombudsman should have ordered the filing of criminal charges against him a long time ago.

Asked if he believed that the Arroyo administration had been treating Perez's case with kid gloves, Estrada said, "Kitang-kita naman kasi natanggap niya iyong [It’s obvious. He received the] $2 million two days after President Arroyo assumed office. Why did it take them six years to file the charges?"

In early 2003, Perez resigned from the Arroyo Cabinet amid accusations that he used his position to extort money from then Manila Congressmen Mark Jimenez, ostensibly to spare the former lawmaker from being forced to issue affidavits against his friend, deposed president Joseph Estrada.

The $2 million was alleged to have come from a $14-million bribe for the approval of the contract for the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan hydroelectric plant won by Argentina's Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona Sociedad Anonima (Impsa).

The project had been approved by the administration of Estrada, allegedly brokered by Jimenez, and later endorsed by Perez.

Jimenez had accused Perez of demanding money "so that he would stop forcing Jimenez to execute damaging affidavits against certain individuals in the administration of Estrada."