ILOCOS Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson on Thursday afternoon presented to media wiretapped tapes of what he said were conversations between former president Joseph Estrada and other people that purportedly show a plan by the opposition to unseat President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The tape, which Singson presented during a press conference at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City, showed a man, allegedly former Armed Forces chief of staff Joselin Nazareno, talking to another man, allegedly Estrada, about a plan to unseat "pandak" [a short person] and to replace her with a transition government headed by "tanda" [old person].
Estrada spokesman Didagen Dilangalen discounted the allegations in a television interview, saying it came from Estrada's political nemesis.
Singson would not tell reporters if "tanda" referred to former president Fidel Ramos, but a note on the CD distributed to the media that contained the supposedly wiretapped conversations said it could possibly be Ramos.
"Pandak" is a derogatory term the opposition usually uses to describe President Arroyo.
The tape also had Nazareno allegedly telling Estrada that Senator Panfilo Lacson has approved of the plan. Nazareno also allegedly told Estrada that "tanda" would later be stricken ill.
Singson said the tape was given to him on Wednesday. He would not say who gave him the tape, but said it was part of the supposed "mother tape" of wiretapped conversations now in the hands of the opposition and the subject of a congressional inquiry