Philippine President Joseph Estrada claimed Saturday senators and lawyers involved in his continuing corruption trial had received death threats.
His comments came after Supreme Court chief justice Hilario Davide, who acts as presiding officer in the Senate trial, said Friday he had also received a threat to his life.
Reacting to Davide's statement, Estrada told reporters at the presidential palace: "He is not the only one with a death threat. All of the senators have gotten death threats."
His two chief defense lawyers, Estelito Mendoza and Andres Narvasa, had received similar warnings, he added.
Estrada said the senators, who are acting as judges in the corruption trial, and his lawyers had received black ribbons, a traditional symbol of funerals in the Philippines.
The president said he had provided both senators and lawyers with security.
He did not say who was behind the threats, but noted that they had come while the political opposition was trying to pressure his aides and allies into deserting him, even to the point of staging protests near their homes.
Estrada is being tried in Senate over charges he received huge bribes from illegal gambling bosses, skimmed off government funds and shielded his friends from government regulators. If found guilty, he could be forced to step down.
Estrada also lashed out at the prosecutors in the case for trying to drag his wife, Luisa Ejercito, into the trial, saying "the real agenda of the opposition is destruction, to destroy my family."
"If they could, they would even destroy my mother. They want to destroy me and not only me but my entire family," he told reporters.
The prosecution, made up of opposition congressmen, had said Friday they would enter as evidence proof that first lady Ejercito and an Estrada friend, William Gatchalian, received huge checks from the president's alleged bribe-collector, provincial Governor Luis Singson.
The documents indicated Ejercito received an eight-million-peso (157,000 dollars, 165,000 euros) check while Gatchalian received a 46-million-peso (901,000 dollars) check from Singson in 1999.
Estrada declined to comment on the accusations, citing his policy of not commenting on the corruption trial unless he is called to testify.
One of the prosecutors, Congressman Wigberto Tanada, said they would try to link the first lady's check to reports Estrada stashed illegally acquired funds in hidden bank accounts.
"This is ill-gotten wealth. There is already this prima facie presumption that the burden of evidence will shift to the defense who will then have to prove that this wealth was obtained through legal means," Tanada added.
Speaking in his weekly radio show, Estrada remained defiant, saying "whatever challenges they have sent my way in the past year, I will not change the direction of my administration."
"No matter what accusations are hurled against my person by my political enemies, I will not back down in fighting for the welfare of my countrymen," he added -- MANILA (AFP)
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