Appearing as the 74th defense witness in Estrada’s plunder and perjury trial, Fuentebella told the Sandiganbayan Special Division that he received the official letter from Estrada notifying both houses of Congress that he would be taking a leave of absence at 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 20, 2001.

Fuentebella, incumbent representative of the third district of Camarines Sur, said he received the letter at his suite at the Diamond Hotel in Manila where he and his wife stayed since the day before to keep track of the developments at the EDSA Shrine.

"I told my wife we had to go there because it was quite turbulent at that time. In the early morning of Jan. 20 (2001), I received a call from Malacañang. I was informed that a letter was coming. I instructed my staff to wait for Malacañang’s messenger at the lobby," he narrated.

In the letter, he said, Estrada informed both the House of Representatives and the Senate that he was temporarily transferring presidential authority to then Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as provided for under Article 7, Section 11, of the Constitution.

Fuentebella told the anti-graft court that the notification of Estrada’s leave was formally entered into the journal of business of the Lower House on Jan. 24, 2001.

Former Senate President, now Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who was also in court yesterday, confirmed that he indeed received a similar notice of leave from Estrada.

He, however, was not presented because he could not produce a copy of the letter, which, he said, was in the possession of the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.

Fuentebella and Pimentel also corroborated last week’s testimony of Cavite Rep. Crispin Remulla, who was then serving as assistant secretary in the Presidential Management Staff.

Remulla had testified that he was the one who drafted Estrada’s letter to the two Congress leaders.

The letter was officially stamped "received" on Jan. 20, 2001 at 8:30 a.m., more than three hours before Mrs. Arroyo was sworn into office by Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. and several other magistrates of the Supreme Court.

Davide, in an interview with reporters at 10 a.m. of that day, had announced that he would be swearing in Mrs. Arroyo to succeed Estrada but the actual oath-taking took place at 12 noon.

Estrada, his family, a few friends, and members of his Cabinet who stayed loyal to him left Malacañang on board a barge at the Pasig River at around 4 p.m.

Estrada’s chief defense lawyer Rene Saguisag said that the testimony of Fuentebella and Remulla bolstered the defense’s theory that President Estrada prematurely lost his immunity in 2001.

Chief Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio did not cross examine Fuentebella, as he claimed that the latter’s testimony was irrelevant and immaterial to the case as the issue of premature loss of immunity had been twice resolved by the Supreme Court when it ruled that Mrs. Arroyo’s takeover was legal, and when it suspended former Estrada lawyer Alan Paguia.