Words: Jaemark Tordecilla
Illustration: Frantz Arno Salvador
July 27, 2009 | 8779 views
Teofisto Guingona's "I Accuse" speech in the Senate
On 5 October 2000, then-Senator Teofisto Guingona gave a privilege speech accusing Estrada of involvement in the illegal numbers game jueteng, calling the President a gambling lord. Delivered in the classic Ateneo elocutionary style, Guingona's eloquent speech channeled French writer Emile Zola's "J'Accuse" from more than a century earlier.
"I accuse Joseph Ejercito Estrada, President of the Republic of the Philippines, of betraying public trust," he would begin to say, his eyes delivering their own messages of anger. "I accuse Joseph Ejercito Estrada, President of the Republic of the Philippines, of graft and corruption." Do you now remember how Guingona looked, plummeting home the point gracefully?
After Estrada's ouster, Guingona was installed Vice President after Arroyo assumed the presidency. But Guingona had a falling out with Arroyo over several core issues, and in the 2004 presidential elections, Guingona shifted his support to the late Fernando Poe, Jr., who is, ironically, Estrada's best friend.
