The moment of truth for Joseph Estrada came abruptly at 1 p.m last Friday, when Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Angelo Reyes and Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado informed him that the military was withdrawing its support from him. Concerned that Estrada had not fully understood the finality of the call, Reyes asked his deputy, General Jose Calimlim, to follow up the phone call with a personal visit. Calimlim, a trusted former aide-de-camp to Estrada, was a person who could perhaps coax him through pakikisama (camaraderie), the gentle pressure of "a friend, not an enemy."
When Calimlim arrived at Malacanang Palace,...
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