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The larger problem for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's new administration proved to be more formidable than simply working up the resolve to create a new society. Perhaps without realizing it, Estrada laid the groundwork for his initial legal defence when he refused to formally resign the presidency, claiming that he was still the lawful President. Furthermore, he was still extremely popular among the nation's poor. His political supporters in Congress also sought to belittle People Power 2 as a façade used by traditional élites to eliminate Erap, the defender of the poor, and this message found a responsive audience.
In March and, again, in April, the Supreme Court revisited the legality of Estrada's removal from power. Both times the court held steady and reaffirmed its original decision, thus clearing the way for formal charges to be brought against the former head of state. On 25 April, Estrada was arrested at his home in San Juan, Metro Manila, despite the efforts of thousands of Manila's poor who surrounded the house to protect their hero. The Sandiganbayan, a special anti-graft court, charged Estrada with "plunder" to the amount of 4 billion pesos. The charge does not allow bail and carries a maximum penalty of death. After arriving at Camp Crame, the bedraggled-looking former President was photographed with a name and number plate on his chest in the manner of a common criminal.9 The release of this photograph to the media by unknown policemen acting against explicit orders sparked an instantaneous reaction among his millions of supporters in Manila's slums.
Once again, the EDSA shrine became the scene of a huge political throng, this one in favour of the jailed former President, and, by many accounts, larger than the assembly that ousted him from power just months earlier. While the sincerity of the vast majority of the pro-Erap crowd could not be doubted, rumours soon circulated that prominent political allies of the former President were intent on using "EDSA 3"10 to overthrow the...