I did it to facilitate the loan

Joseph Estrada

Mr Estrada, a former film star, is on trial charged with plundering $80m during his 30-month rule that ended last January. If convicted of plunder he could theoretically face the death penalty.

He has also been charged with perjury and for illegally using an alias to hide his wealth.

On the latter charge, the prosecution allege he used a secret bank account in the fictitious name of Jose Velarde to conceal up to $62.3m. They say documents signed by Mr Estrada in February 2000 show he instructed Equitable-PCI Bank officials to invest $9.7m from the account in question.

Estrada's admission

On Tuesday, in interviews on two Manila radio stations, Mr Estrada said he had signed the name "Jose Velarde" in documents for Equitable-PCI Bank.

Mr Estrada has been in custody since April 2001

But he said he had used the signature merely as a device to facilitate a loan from a businessman friend, Jaime Dichaves, to another friend, William Gatchalian.

Mr Dichaves actually owned the account, but "the Dichaves group would not lend money to Gatchalian if I did not guarantee it," Mr Estrada said.

He said several people saw him sign, including a lawyer friend and the then-palace chief of staff.

Mr Estrada said he had no hesitation signing a false name because the bank's president at the time, George Go, said it was no more than an "internal arrangement" Mr Dichaves and the bank.

Mr Gatchalian's businesses would have "gone bankrupt, leading to job losses," he added.

Prosecution 'boost'

The name Jose Velarde cropped up continually in Mr Estrada's impeachment trial. In December 2000, an Equitable-PCI Bank executive, Clarissa Ocampo, testified that Mr Estrada owned an account in that name containing at least $10m.

Mr Estrada has recently had a cataract operation

But the trial collapsed in January 2001 when prosecutors were denied the opportunity to examine the bank records.

It sparked a peaceful military-backed popular revolt that forced Mr Estrada out of office and brought President Gloria Arroyo to power.

Prosecutors said Mr Estrada's admission on Tuesday confirmed their case against him.

But a lawyer for Mr Estrada said: "Somebody signing a document does not in any way help at all in the prosecution's theory that President Estrada stole money.

"They have to prove that Erap [Estrada's nickname] had acquired money through ill-gotten means, and that's what the case is all about."