MANILA. Dec 11: A witness testified at Philippine President Joseph Estrada s corruption trial on Monday that she personally delivered five million pesos (100.000 dollars) in illegal gambling bribes to the leader, reports AFP.

The testimony of prosecution witness Emma Lim was the first at the three day-old trial to directly link the president and supposed payoffs from operators of the popular but illegal lottery called "jueteng".

Lim told the Senate tribunal that she carried a "black bag" filled with bundles of thousand-peso bills to Malacanang presidential palace sometime in 1999 on the orders of her employer, provincial governor Luis 'Chavit" Singsori.

The 33-year-old woman said she went through two security checks before being ushered into a

"I saw the president but he was talking to somebody. But Malou came to me and I gave it (the bag) to Malou." the Singson employee said, referring to Estrada's secretary.

"He (the president) saw me.” Lim said, adding that the secretary put the bag of money beside an office table.

Lim said she left the palace after the secretary spoke to Singson by telephone to acknowledge the delivery of the bag.

"I went out and boarded the vehicle of governor Singson. I was so afraid back then."

Singson turned against Estrada in early October, testifying at a Senate investigating committee that he personally delivered "jueteng" bribes worth between five and 10 million pesos to Estrada to the

presidential palace every 15 days between November 1998 and August 2000.

The House of Representatives impeached Estrada last mon Ui on bribery, corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the consti tution.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If found guilty by a two-thirds vote in the Senate he would automatically lose his post. Court officials said the trial could last until mid-January.

Lim had testified on Friday that she collected "bundles of cash " worth more than 68,000 dollars from three people including Estrada's son and a presidential assistant and gave them to Singson over the past two years.

Prosecutor Salacnib Baterina asked the presiding officer of the tribunal. Supreme Court chief justice Hilario Davide, to authorize an "ocular inspection with this witness In Malacanang" to point out exactly where she delivered the money and the distance between her and the president when she saw him.

Lim also testified Monday that she deposited on a monthly basis a total of 9.21 million pesos in "jueteng" payoffs from presidential aide Anton Prieto to Singson's personal bank account in 1999.

She described the check deposits as "remittances by Mr. Anton Prieto of jueteng collections' for President Estrada through governor Chavit Singson."

Earlier, the 11 prosecutors from the House of Representatives had come under fire from legal groups for the absence of solid evidence so far to back accusations that Estrada took millions of dollars in bribes from illegal gambling bosses.