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Taking place four months after the Second EDSA Revolution, the protests were considered as a more populist uprising in comparison to the previous demonstrations in the same location in January 2001. The protests and the attack on the presidential palace, however, failed in their objectives. Participants continue to claim that it was a genuine People Power event, a claim disputed by the participants and supporters of EDSA II. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has acknowledged the divisive nature of the two terminologies by saying in one statement that she hoped to be the president of "EDSA II and EDSA III".[citation needed]

April 24[edit]
See also: Trial of Joseph Estrada

On April 24, 2001, the Sandiganbayan ordered the arrest of Estrada, his son San Juan mayor Jinggoy Estrada, gambling consultant Charlie "Atong" Ang, and lawyer Edward Serapio over charges of plunder and graft. As early as 6:00 am the next day, six thousand police officers at Camp Crame in Quezon City stood by for the order to arrest Estrada, headed by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director-General Leandro Mendoza alongside troopers of the Philippine Marine Corps and the PNP Special Action Force in seven vehicles and five buses.

However, an estimated 6,000 loyalists of Estrada had mobilized to Greenhills in San Juan to block the police and military from arresting the former president, who lived inside the North Greenhills subdivision. The PNP had floated the possibility of having to forcibly airlift Estrada from his home with airborne troops if the police squad headed by Mendoza was unable to enter the subdivision, as loyalists blocked the combined police and military forces from accessing the subdivision's Buchanan gate along Club Filipino Avenue with a blockade made out of jeepneys and human barricades.

At 2:00 pm, the situation between the police and the loyalists became tense when anti-riot personnel began approaching the human barricades. Out of fear of antagonizing the loyalists and instigating a riot, the anti-riot personnel withdrew. However, at around 3 pm, the police and military forces aborted the operation for the day as the Sandiganbayan had not yet issued the warrant for Estrada's arrest.

April 25–30[edit]
On April 25, the Sandiganbayan finally issued the arrest order at noon. At 3:00 pm, court-appointed sheriff Ed Urieta, two thousand police officers, and troopers of the Philippine Marine Corps accompanied by PNP Chief Mendoza arrived at Estrada's home and served the warrant. The arresting team escorted Estrada and his son Jinggoy into a PNP-owned Toyota Coaster to take them both to a detention center at Camp Crame. Estrada's lawyers were able to persuade the police to let them ride in a private vehicle instead of the police Coaster, as armed police officers escorted a privately-owned van as it moved out of the North Greenhills subdivision towards Camp Crame.

After both Estrada and his son were processed and put into a cell, Estrada released a statement maintaining his innocence and denounced the Arroyo government's efforts to persecute him as a "violation of his human rights", calling Filipinos to "witness this denial of justice and mockery of the Bill of Rights."

As a result, a crowd of an alleged 700,000 loyalists (although according to Eagle Broadcasting Corporation-owned broadcast network Net 25 and to Senator Tito Sotto, a high of over 3 million in the evening from April 25–30), most of whom were members of the urban poor and devotees of the Iglesia ni Cristo, which institutionally supported Estrada, gathered at the Roman Catholic EDSA Shrine, the site of the January EDSA II revolt that had toppled Estrada from the presidency.[citation needed]

News organizations aiming to cover the rally were advised not to approach the area, as there were reports of hostility towards cameramen, particularly those from ABS-CBN and GMA. Rally leaders also refused to give interviews to newspaper media representatives, claiming that the news organizations were biased against Estrada. Estrada's son, JV Ejercito, later apologized for the hostility of the protesters and requested the news organizations to cover the event, assuring the safety of their journalists. However, Net 25 and foreign news organizations such as CNN, BBC, NHK, and Reuters were able to provide coverage of the protests.

The protest was led by members of the political opposition of the time, most notably Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Vicente Sotto III, Gringo Honasan, Panfilo Lacson and Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

On the night of April 30, the scene turned violent as riot police fired warning shots and tear gas on crowds of supporters of Estrada. Some of the estimated 20,000 marchers picked up abandoned shields and raided a construction site for scrap wood to use as clubs. Volleys of shots later rang out from a second line of officers, and again when the crowds reached the palace and tried to force their way into the fenced compound. They then broke through a third police line, the last before a phalanx of heavily armed officers that waited at Mendiola, a key bridge entrance to the presidential palace. A policeman, laying injured and bloody, was pelted with rocks by protesters. Marchers used a dump truck to break through an initial line of riot police who dropped their plastic shields and scattered. At least one person died and many injured as thousands of protestors clashed with riot police outside the palace.

May 1[edit]
The rebellion sought to remove Arroyo from the presidency and to reinstate Estrada. The rebellion came to a head in the early morning of May 1, 2001, as most of the people left, specifically the Iglesia ni Cristo members, as an agreement between their leaders and the government occurred. Yet hundreds of thousands of protesters still stormed towards Malacañang Palace, the presidential residence. Two of Estrada's sons, JV Ejercito and Jude Estrada, were observed marching with the crowd and leaving before they reached Mendiola Street. Several broadcast vans of ABS-CBN were torched by members of the crowd, while others attacked the police and soldiers with rocks, sticks, and pipes. The government continued enforcing a "maximum tolerance" policy for the police and military in responding to the protesters, with them dispersing the marchers with warning shots and tear gases. The enforcement of the "maximum tolerance" policy was later credited with preventing an escalation of the violence.

President Arroyo declared a state of rebellion in the National Capital Region pursuant to Proclamation No. 38 and arrested leaders who participated in the said rebellion, such as Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and former ambassador Ernesto Maceda, but released them on bail. She also announced the death of two police officers, expressing sympathy towards their families. Journalists however later corrected their initial reports and stated that one officer (PO1 Grant Fausto Savedia) turned out to be alive while the other officer was killed in Manila in a prior incident unrelated to the riots.

Casualties[edit]
Three protesters and one bystander were killed during the riots and dispersal.


 * 1) Jhun Bado
 * 2) Efren Malacer, 32
 * 3) Raul T. Rosal, 30, employee of Friends of Gringo Honasan Movement (FOGHOM)
 * 4) Tiburcio Arciage, 54, bystander

Aftermath[edit]
On May 7, 2001, President Arroyo lifted the notice of a state of rebellion. Hours after the crowds of EDSA III were dispersed, representatives of the Archdiocese of Manila and Civil Society supporters of the Arroyo administration reclaimed the EDSA Shrine where there had been alleged acts of vandalism and desecration of the site.

Unlike previous upheavals under the EDSA name, EDSA III was marred by widespread destruction and vandalism of public utilities (stop lights and street posts were thrown down), torching of media equipment, particularly those of ABS-CBN, and attacks on stores fronting the protest routes at Claro M. Recto Avenue, Legarda Street, Chino Roces (Mendiola) Street, Rizal Avenue, Nicanor Reyes (Morayta Street), and Quezon Boulevard as protesters approached Malacañang Palace.

Most of those arrested were later set free. As for the public figures that supported the rallies, they shied away at its most critical time when it became obvious, that the Arroyo administration was not backing down from this confrontation which it perceived was political manipulation which resulted in mob mentality and anarchy of the masses urged by its political opponents.[citation needed]

President Arroyo gave an award to Navy Lt. Cmdr. Edwin Mackay on May 23, 2001 for leading his Navy contingent in the defense of Malacañang during the riots.

On July 3, 2001, the Department of Justice dropped charges against 147 pro-Estrada rallyists upon the orders of President Arroyo, with the protesters signing affidavits that stated "they had nothing to do with the siege and that they were merely used." Three days later, they were released from the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Pampanga Governor Lito Lapid.

On October 20, 2001, an arrest warrant was issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 27 against Ronald Lumbao, spokesman of the People's Movement Against Poverty (PMAP), due to charges of rebellion for his alleged role as leader in the attempted storming of Malacañang by rallyists on May 1. On April 25, 2002, Lumbao was captured by police authorities in an apartment building in Quezon City.

Criticism[edit]
Critics of EDSA III, styled after the People Power Revolution (EDSA Revolution) and EDSA Revolution of 2001, argue that while this was a major protest, the spirit of it was unlike of the first and second protests. Supporters of EDSA III allege that EDSA's I and II's participants were made up of the professional–managerial class and as such not democratically representative unlike those who had participated in EDSA III. Other arguments also point to the success of the first two to remove the presidents targeted, versus this event's failure to do so.[citation needed]