OPINION: ERAP, TAKE 2
MANILA, OCTOBER 23, 2009 (STAR) SKETCHES By Ana Marie Pamintuan - There are several things we can expect if Joseph Estrada stages a dramatic comeback.As he himself has said, he will launch another all-out offensive against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, aiming to accomplish what he did at Camp Abubakar, the main MILF camp that was overrun by the military in 2000. As a concession to Islamic sensitivities, he might omit the lechon at the victory celebration.
He will push for the legalization of jueteng, so that no one will ever again be indicted and detained, like him, for corruption in connection with the popular numbers game.
Among all the declared presidential aspirants, Erap is sure to push for the prosecution of the person he accuses of stealing his presidency, for plunder and other offenses during her nine years in office.
In private, Erap has reportedly told supporters that for every year that he spent in detention, he wants Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to serve double the time. Erap was held without bail for six years and six months.
He could have spent the rest of his life at the national penitentiary, but President Arroyo pardoned him immediately and restored his right to vote.
Erap could of course do the same in case he wins in 2010 and GMA is convicted. But she also faces detention before conviction in case the indictment is for plunder, and even a seat in the House of Representatives won’t give her immunity from this.
An indictment of GMA would necessarily include the officials and private individuals who implemented her orders, signed incriminating documents, covered up for her or benefited in some way from anomalous deals.
The other serious presidential aspirants have also promised to deal with corruption if they win. But several of them emphasize that they want to restore the independence of the judiciary and will leave to the courts the task of going after the band of thieves in the Arroyo administration.
Not so Erap, who believes his former vice president took a personal interest in his prosecution, as she secretly conspired to kick him out of Malacañang.
Supporters of President Arroyo, some of whom have started jumping ship, might accuse Erap of vindictiveness. But others who believe the weakness of the Philippine judiciary cannot be corrected overnight are tantalized by the idea of finally seeing the big fish punished.
For such people, it doesn’t matter that the instrument of that punishment might turn out to be someone convicted with finality and beyond reasonable doubt of plunder, the more serious version of corruption.
Amid the venalities imputed on the Arroyo administration, Erap’s sins now pale in comparison.
Those venalities, coupled with his pardon and, of course, his still formidable charm, unmatched by any of the presidential wannabes, are the biggest reasons for his rehabilitation.
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Yesterday Malacañang warned that Erap faces a deluge of lawsuits challenging his eligibility to seek re-election.
Erap’s case is unique and is expected to reach the Supreme Court. He is making an aggressive case for vox populi, vox dei, to let the people judge him through the ballot.
Malacañang should avoid further boosting Erap’s chances by giving even a hint of involvement in efforts to stop him from running. Erap is sure to seize the chance of portraying himself as an underdog being persecuted by an unjust administration.
Several foreign diplomats have told me that if there could be anything worse than President Arroyo hanging on to power beyond June 30, 2010, it would be a return of Erap to power. They ask: Don’t Filipinos ever learn?
One diplomat recalled Abraham Lincoln’s quote: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
Erap, of course, does not think he’s fooling the people. His appeals for a second shot at the presidency are aimed at his constituency — the impoverished masses who account for the majority of the country’s voting population.
That appeal could receive a boost from his choice of running mate in this time of misery from natural disasters, when the prospect of regular dole-outs and heavy social safety nets are even more appealing to the poor.
Officially presenting his running mate in Tondo, Manila the other night, Erap pointed to Mayor Jejomar Binay’s record in caring for the poor of Makati. The city’s poor, Erap said, get proper education and health care, and the elderly enjoy benefits from the city government like nowhere else in the country.
Wouldn’t the masses want this replicated all over the Philippines? It’s a powerful message to poor voters.
Erap is also trying to rewrite his life’s story by diverting attention from the crime for which he was convicted to those imputed on the Arroyo administration.
He fired off with his accusation, first expressed many years ago, that during his presidency, he had turned down a $14-million bribe to approve a sovereign guarantee for a port deal for Argentine firm IMPSA.
The guarantee, he said, was approved within days of EDSA II by his successor’s first justice secretary and political mentor, Hernando Perez. The case, for which Perez is accused of accepting a $2-million bribe, awaits final adjudication.
Such scandals eroded the sincerity of the effort to stamp out corruption after the second people power revolt.
Filipinos haven’t forgotten Erap’s many vices, his awful work ethic, the many families wanting a piece of the action during his incumbency — all the reasons why the “greatest performance of my life” bombed at the box office.
He is also pitted in 2010 not against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but against candidates who offer voters hope for change and better governance. Those candidates have their own constituencies among the masses.
Still, Erap is counting on the support of those who, despite his prosecution and detention, still sent his wife Loi and then their son Jinggoy to the Senate.
If Joseph Estrada is now seen as a serious contender for the 2010 presidential race, despite his conviction for large-scale corruption and legal questions about his eligibility, he has the Arroyo administration to thank.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2009
by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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