In an historic session attended by foreign diplomats, Senate members donned black robes to lend the event an air of solemnity and converted themselves into a tribunal to judge the former movie star. Apparently rented in haste, some of the robes looked either either too small or too large for some of the senators. The trial proper, when prosecutors start presenting evidence, is to begin in early December. Estrada has said he is innocent of the charges and vowed to clear his name. Nobody's above the constitution.
Nobody's above the law.
I leave my fate to God and to the judgment of the Senate. Earlier, Tatad announced his defection from Estrada's coalition, but stressed he was not joining the opposition. I will vote to convict if the prosecutors succeed in proving their case. I will vote to acquit if they fail to do so. Tatad is the seventh member of the president's coalition to defect since the bribery scandal broke last month.