Assisted by his lawyer Rufus Rodriguez, Estrada filed the complaint before Rizal provincial prosecutors Danilo Lim and Jesus Casila in a makeshift "office desk," a few yards away from the main gate of Estrada’s detention center in Tanay, Rizal.

Named respondents in the libel complaint were a newspaper and a woman whom Estrada described as a "convicted felon who has two standing warrants of arrest for estafa" but who is allowed by the Arroyo administration to return to the country and leave without being served the arrest warrants.

"It is absolutely clear that named respondents maligned the name, honor, and integrity of my person in complete disregard to the injury, impairment and damage of my name, honor, and reputation arising from their malicious imputations," Estrada said in his complaint.

"For this convicted woman being allowed to come and surreptitiously leave after maligning the name and integrity of other persons, it only shows the double standard of justice the country has today under the Arroyo administration," Estrada added.

In filing the libel complaint, Estrada said, "I am left with no other option but to help rebuild and strengthen Philippine laws and our country’s judicial system against any political oppression and prosecution by those widely connected in the corridors of power.

"I have served the Filipino people and our nation with the highest degree of integrity and utmost dedication. I firmly believe that the enjoyment of my family’s good name, and that of a private and public reputation is as much as my constitutional right as the possession of life, liberty, or property," he added.

Estrada noted that after accusing him of money laundering, his accusers and their lawyers failed to appear in a scheduled court hearing on the case.

This only proved their "evil and malicious intent" to further malign his name, "nothing more and nothing less," he said.

Estrada also pointed out that the "malicious and wicked accusations" surfaced only after he took the witness stand before the Sandiganbayan.

The detained opposition leader said he couldn’t help but smile at the "timeliness" of those accusations, coming as it did after his taking the witness stand, and "coming also from a convicted felon with two standing arrest warrants."

"If those pseudo-accusers think they succeeded in maligning and exposing me to public hatred, contempt, and ridicule by grabbing the headlines for a few days, then I am left with no other recourse but to bring them to court and help strengthen the nation’s judicial system," Estrada said.

According to Rodriguez, the respondents are being charged with violations of Articles 35 and 355 of the Revised Penal Code (the Libel law).

"It is absolutely clear that the malicious accusations against President Estrada were driven mainly by evil and wicked motives to inflict injury and integrity on his name that, somehow, extended to members of the EjercitoEstrada family," Rodriguez said.

Estrada’s complaint was deemed official after he affixed his name on the documents under a clear sky he described as "Erap weather."

Following the filing of his complaint, Estrada was allowed to go outside the gates where he has been detained for more than five years, and wave at the waiting newsmen and radio-TV cameramen who had camped early outside his Tanay detention center hours before the arrival of the government prosecutors.

When asked for a statement after signing the complaint, Estrada said: "I echo the public statement of my wife, Sen. Loi Estrada, which in effect said that while our political detractors find success in making a mockery of the nation’s judicial system under the Arroyo administration, one way or the other, they will be made accountable before the altar of Divine Justice."

As this developed, the former President yesterday voiced concern over the state of health of President Arroyo following her frequent trips to the hospital in the past two months.

"I’ll pray for her good health," Estrada told reporters in an interview shortly after he formally filed his libel complaint against his detractors.

Estrada was about to say more until his police custodians prevented him from doing so, saying they have been informed that the former president is barred from issuing statements on matters not related to his case.

Estrada’s media liaison, Ferdie Ramos, said the former president wanted to say that he is supporting calls from opposition congressmen to Malacañang to make a full disclosure about Mrs. Arroyo’s real medical condition.

"The public is entitled to know the true state of her health. That’s what the law provides," Ramos said, quoting Estrada. (with a report by Edmer F. Panesa)