FORMER President Joseph Estrada on Monday reiterated his request to the Sandiganbyan’s Special Division to modify his custodial arrangement by allowing his transfer and stay in his house in Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila, at least during the election period so that he could help the Genuine Opposition (GO).

Estrada’s plea was contained in an eight-page memorandum he submitted to the antigraft court, wherein he also asked the justices to immediately resolve his motion owing to the short election period.

“We asked for just two days to file this memorandum. The prosecution asked for seven days to respond. Before the matter is resolved, the election period would have dwindled down to a precious few days. We urged the court to resolve the issue soonest one way or the other so that in case of an adverse disposition, our team may be able to go up,” the detained leader said through his lead counsel Rene Saguisag.

In pleading for his temporary transfer of detention from his resthouse in Tanay, Rizal, to his house on Polk Street, Greenhills, San Juan, Estrada said that he needs to see and closely coordinate with the opposition’s spokesman Adel Tamano and his son, JV Ejercito, who is the opposition’s campaign manager, in order to help the campaign of GO’s 12 senatorial candidates.

He also told the court that he needs to regularly meet and confer with his advisers and the other officials of the opposition who are running its campaign.

Likewise, Estrada said that he has to meet with congressional and local candidates who are running under the banner of the opposition, and most of all, he needs to face the media on a regular basis and conduct a “regular press conference on the issues of the day.”

“All these are ideally to be made possible in [the] Polk [residence], subject to the usual security regulations, and in case of need to consult, the security personnel may coordinate with a representative of this court,” he said in his pleading.

Offering a bargain, the fallen leader said that if the access of his officials and all the candidates of the opposition can only be considered in Tanay, then he should be accorded unrestricted use of his cellular phone if only “in this crucial election.”

Estrada said that he was not demanding for an “indefensible special treatment,” but the high stakes of having fair and credible elections in May justify his request.

“To repeat the unnecessary, it is our respectful submission that he cannot be shut out of the national debate and the press is critical in this aspect. He should be allowed to enjoy his right and discharge his duty to help enlighten the public on his positions on issues and the merits of candidacies,” Estrada said.

IN an apparent attempt to cushion the impact of the Melo Commission report and the findings of UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston pointing to the military as responsible for the series of extrajudicial killings, the Armed Forces presented three former member of the communist New People’s Army (NPA), who it said could bolster its earlier claim that it was the NPA that should be blamed for the killings.

FORMER President Joseph Estrada on Monday reiterated his request to the Sandiganbyan’s Special Division to modify his custodial arrangement by allowing his transfer and stay in his house in Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila, at least during the election period so that he could help the Genuine Opposition (GO).

AN opposition legislator on Monday expressed outrage over the reported plan of controversial figures closely associated with the administration to run for seats in the House of Representatives, charging that Malacañang is out to convert the legislature into a “den of cheaters, liars, thieves and killers.”

EDUCATION Secretary Jesli Lapus explained on Monday that the Alternative Learning System (ALS) is not a conventional education program although it is equivalent to regularly acquired school education.