MANILA, Philippines?After nearly six hours of impassioned debate on Jan. 16, 2001, 11 senators voted against the opening of sealed documents that, impeachment prosecutors said, would provide the most damaging evidence against then President Joseph Estrada.
The prosecutors said the documents would prove that Estrada had amassed ill-gotten wealth worth P3.3 billion in a secret account with Equitable PCIBank.
Then Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. announced his resignation shortly after it was announced that ?the nays have it.? Some of the nine other senators who voted ?yes? broke into tears and hugged each other.
Pimentel?s resignation was followed by the resignation of Norberto Nazareno from the presidency of the state-owned Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., and the withdrawal of support from Estrada by actors led by Nora Aunor and director Marilou Diaz-Abaya.
The Estrada administration had been suffering defections even before the 11-10 vote of the Senate.
Late in 2000, then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II resigned from the Estrada Cabinet. Then Speaker Manuel Villar and then Senate President Franklin Drilon defected from the majority coalition in Congress. Private-sector representatives resigned from the President?s council of senior economic advisers.
The public responded with outrage at the Senate vote. Almost immediately, crowds calling for Estrada?s ouster began to gather at the Edsa Shrine in Mandaluyong City, the site of Edsa I, the peaceful revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986.
The protesters said they would not abandon the Shrine and that the mass action and vigil would continue until Estrada vacated his post.
At noon on Jan. 20, 2001, Ms Arroyo was sworn in as President. Two hours later, Estrada and his family left Malacańang.
In her speech, Ms Arroyo said she was taking on the presidency with ?trepidation and a sense of awe.?
She said her administration would fight poverty, ?improve moral standards,? change the character of politics ?from personality and patronage to the new politics of party programs,? and ?lead by example.? Compiled by Eliza Victoria, Inquirer Research
Source: Inquirer Archives
