Former Joseph Estrada on Friday said history will vindicate President Arroyo's decision to grant him executive clemency from his conviction on the plunder trial. In a statement read by lawyer Edward Serapio, Estrada thanked Mrs. Arroyo for giving him "full, free and absolute pardon midway through her term."

“I believe that history will vindicate not only this executive act but my innocence as well,” he said.

He also thanked people who supported the granting of the pardon, which he said signals national reconciliation.

Estrada said he is aware of the hardship that Mrs. Arroyo had to go through before deciding to grant him executive clemency. He said he endured the same hardship when he decided to withdraw his motion for reconsideration on the Sandiganbayan’s decision convicting him of plunder.

“I, too, had gone through such excruciating times before deciding to take on the long standing peace overtures to the political opposition by withdrawing my petition for the Sandiganbayan to reverse its verdict,” he said.

The former president said his acceptance of the pardon did not mean that he is turning his back on the Filipino public who have supported him throughout his six-year trial.

Estrada reiterated his earlier promised to spend the rest of his life as “plain citizen Erap.”

He also pleaded for understanding as he attends to his sick mother, 102-year-old Doña Mary Ejercito.

Mrs. Arroyo set aside her ousted predecessor’s life sentence on Thursday, just six weeks after he was convicted. Critics said the clemency was designed to curry favor with the opposition amid mounting bribery scandals.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the President had struggled with the pardon for Estrada, who has remained a figurehead for anti-Arroyo groups and is viewed by analysts as a potentially powerful kingmaker in the 2010 presidential election.

“She agonized over the decision. But she felt in the end that her decision was the right one,” he told local radio.

Estrada is expected to formally receive his pardon later on Friday. He will leave his luxurious villa outside Manila, where he has been detained for most of the past six years, and will then travel to Manila to visit his ailing 102-year-old mother.

He is expected to visit city hall in San Juan, his political and family base in the capital, where supporters and a feast of paella and sweet rice cakes await him.

One of the most colorful characters in the rambunctious world of Philippine politics, Estrada’s term in office was marked by reports of policy decisions taken after late-night drinking bouts, millions of pesos won or lost in gambling sessions and innumerable tales of mistresses and their lavish lifestyles.

The reports horrified the middle class and the powerful Catholic Church, but Estrada’s long career as a matinee idol playing Robin Hood-style heroes and his down-to-earth manner continue to endear him to poor voters.

Estrada’s supporters, who view Mrs. Arroyo as a traitor for turning against Estrada before the then-vice president was sworn in as his successor, welcomed her decision.

“Before we are angry at her but now no more because she let Estrada go free,” said one woman.

But the newspaper editorials were not so forgiving.

“She is sending the message that, once again, political expediency trumps political uncertainty and the pursuit of justice. Does anyone doubt that the pardon is really meant, not to save Estrada’s skin, but hers?” wrote the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Source: ABS-CBNNews.com