Philippine police arrested former president Joseph Estrada yesterday on a corruption charge punishable by death, after overpowering supporters who tried to stop them taking their fallen idol. Estrada's family, including former first lady Luisa, and his household staff wept when top police generals entered their sprawling compound and showed the ousted leader a warrant for his arrest, witnesses said.
"Please take care of him. Don't hurt him," a weeping relative told national police chief General Leandro Mendoza before the disgraced former leader was taken away in a dark van to a police stockade where suspected drug lords and kidnappers have been held.
Hundreds of Estrada's supporters, who formed human barricades at the gate of his mansion in a smart Manila housing complex, screamed obscenities at advancing police and fought them with rocks.
Anti-terrorist police commandos and marines armed with assault rifles rode in a convoy with the disgraced Estrada. Inside the van, the former president, wearing a white jacket over a blue shirt, looked forlorn and stared blankly into space, photographers said.
"The Sandiganbayan (anti-corruption court) has spoken. And the message is clear. This is as it should be," President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who took power in a popular revolt that ended the Estrada presidency in January, said in a statement.
Officials said Estrada, who faces death or life imprisonment on the plunder charge and whose power base is among the country's urban poor, had surrendered without resistance. His head at times hanging down and his shoulders sagging, Estrada looked vanquished as he was led into detention at Camp Crame - the national police headquarters - where his photographs, fingerprints and blood pressure were taken.
He frowned when staff held up in front of him a board on which were written his name and number, as a police photographer shot his picture front-on and in profile, witnesses said.
"This should serve as a lesson to would-be plunderers," Interior Secretary Mr Joey Lina told reporters.
Estrada's son, Jinggoy, a local town mayor, who is one of eight people accused in the plunder case, shouted at photographers taking pictures of him and his father.
Estrada, interviewed by BCC Television from detention quarters, insisted on his innocence and said he did not think he would be put to death for the plunder charge.
"I don't believe so. I don't think it will reach that. These are all fabricated charges," he said. "I know I'm innocent. This is all done by my political enemies and big businessmen here."
Before the generals took Estrada away, about 500 fist-waving supporters formed human barricades outside his residence, chanting, "Still for Erap," the former leader's nickname.
As riot police advanced, Estrada's supporters jeered and pelted them with rocks. Some clambered over the walls of nearby homes. Elderly women and reporters took cover under wooden signs.
Police sharpshooters climbed onto the mansion roof, witnesses said. Three police helicopters swirled overhead.