Top Legislators Desert Estrada, Making Impeachment Nearly Certain
The heads of both houses of the Philippine Congress and more than 40 other legislators withdrew their support for President Joseph Estrada today, making it almost certain that he will be impeached over allegations he pocketed millions of dollars in bribes from an illegal gambling racket.</br></br>The decision by Senate President Franklin Drilon, House Speaker Manuel Villar and the other legislators to resign from Estrada's ruling LAMP party and throw their support behind efforts to remove him from office has increased the pressure on Estrada to resign. The defections appear to provide opposition lawmakers with more than enough support to forward an impeachment complaint to the Senate for a potentially embarrassing trial that could result in his removal from office.</br></br>"We should spare the Philippine people needless suffering," said Drilon, who urged Estrada to step down.</br></br>Allegations that Estrada received almost $12 million in kickbacks from tobacco taxes and an illegal numbers game have roiled the Philippines, leading to mass street protests calling for his resignation. The scandal has rocked the country's financial markets, battering the stock market and the Philippine peso.</br></br>"The crisis has already escalated to the point of threatening a paralysis in government and the collapse of the economy," Villar said.