MANILA (AFP) - Former Philippines leader Joseph Estrada, who was granted a presidential pardon after being jailed for life for massive corruption, on Friday prepared to walk free, ending a six-year national saga.
Hundreds of fans massed in the Manila suburb of San Juan to await the arrival of the actor-turned-president, who was convicted six weeks ago of plundering tens of millions of dollars in tax kickbacks and bribes.
His successor and arch-rival Gloria Arroyo, whom Estrada had accused of having undue influence over his trial by a special anti-graft court, on Thursday granted the 70-year-old a full presidential pardon.
Estrada, known to his supporters simply as "Erap", was to leave his rural villa east of the capital, where he has been under house arrest since July 2004, at about midday (0400 GMT) for the one-hour drive to San Juan.
The streets of the town where he began his political career as mayor in the 1960s during the days of dictator Ferdinand Marcos were decked out in orange, his signature colour when he won the presidency in 1998 in a landslide.
Estrada was to visit San Juan city hall to address supporters and then visit his ailing 102-year-old mother in hospital.
Estrada, who had earlier insisted he had rejected a deal offered by Arroyo, was found guilty on September 12 after a six-year trial that he repeatedly insisted was politically motivated.
The government kept 87 million dollars confiscated from Estrada's bank accounts frozen during his trial.
The case has marked a bitter chapter in Philippine politics that began when the one-time action hero was ousted from power in a bloodless coup in 2001, a move that led to violent street protests.
Arroyo said she hoped the pardon -- part of a policy to free prisoners over the age of 70 -- would help "national reconciliation" but her critics say it is a political ploy to deflect charges of corruption in her own government.
"She is sending the message that once again, political expediency triumphs political maturity and the pursuit of justice," the Philippine Daily Inquirer said in an editorial.
"Does anyone doubt that the pardon is really meant, not to save Estrada's skin, but hers?"
Interior secretary Ronaldo Puno said Friday it was "the hardest decision she has ever had to make," adding that Arroyo was "ready to face the consequences of her decision."
Former president Corazon Aquino welcomed the decision, saying she hoped he would "continue to serve our less fortunate brothers and sisters," but Fidel Ramos, who succeeded Aquino, said the move would lead to Arroyo's downfall.
Estrada's spokesman, Ferdie Ramos, told AFP the former president had been up for most of the night receiving calls from friends and well wishers.
"He was so excited about the pardon he could not sleep," he said.
At Estrada's villa, a few supporters gathered at first light to catch a glimpse of the former leader leaving his rural retreat.
"He was always our president," said 71-year-old Erlinda Esteban, who came on foot from a nearby village.
"He never stole from the government. Whatever he took was from illegal gambling."
Conception Lubay, a 47-year-old mother of eight, said: "Estrada is a man of the people. I have always been a fan ever since I was a kid."
Estrada, who made his name in more than 100 movies over three decades, cultivated an image of the everyday man who spoke in fractured English and was a champion of the poor.
When he was elected in 1998, it was with the largest majority in Philippine presidential history.
When he was ousted three years later, thousands of people laid siege to the presidential palace to reinstate him.
Source: asia.news.yahoo.com