Impeachment Articles Filed: Villar Targets Estrada's Corruption

Philippine House Speaker Manny Villar rammed through articles of impeachment against President Joseph Estrada on November 13, 2000, triggering a constitutional crisis that gripped the nation for months. Estrada, a former movie star who had won the presidency in 1998 with the largest popular vote in Philippine history, was accused of receiving over four hundred million pesos in illegal gambling payoffs, amassing hidden wealth through front companies, and betraying the public trust. Villar brought the impeachment articles to a vote with unusual speed, bypassing the normal committee process. The Senate impeachment trial began in December and was broadcast live on national television, captivating a country that watched its president's financial secrets exposed in real time. The trial collapsed on January 16, 2001, when a majority of senator-judges voted against opening a sealed bank envelope that prosecutors said contained evidence of Estrada's hidden accounts. The vote was seen as a cover-up, and within hours, tens of thousands of Filipinos began gathering at the EDSA Shrine in Manila, the same site where the 1986 People Power Revolution had toppled Ferdinand Marcos. The military withdrew its support from Estrada, and on January 20, Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was sworn in as president with the backing of the armed forces, the Catholic Church, and the business community. Estrada refused to resign but left the presidential palace. He was later convicted of plunder and sentenced to life imprisonment, then pardoned by Arroyo. He subsequently ran for president again in 2010, finishing second.