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Six years and a half in detention and convicted of plunder by the Sandiganbayan (court that tries public officials) to serve for life, though under appeal, Erap’s pardon is now being endorsed by the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ). (Well, what do you know? What other surprises are there a-waiting the Filipinos?)
It is up to Erap to take it or leave it.
To drop the offer and wait for the Supreme Court to consider his appeal would take a day, a month, a year, or even a decade before he could finally be declared “not guilty,” his only plea, which would be a reversal of last month’s verdict, or he could continually serve his sentence, depending on the Supreme Court’s final decision.
To ignore the DOJ’s endorsement would distance him from his ailing mother, who, at the age of 102, has not that much time to wait for his son’s release, if ever. And all that Erap needs now is to be beside her.
To withstand this voluntary act of pardon so he could cling on to his truth, that he did not plunder the government nor the Filipino people, and wait for the highest court to decide on his fate would prove everyone wrong about him. And Erap is a very principled man. Alas, this is the same Supreme Court that recognized and confirmed the Macapagal-Arroyo government in 2001 when he was, according to lawyer Rene Saguisag during his interview at ANC, also Erap’s staunchest ally and legal counsel, “illegally removed from the presidency”!
To take the offer, on the other hand, will finally unite him with his mother, his family, and friends in a snap. He could play with his grandchildren again without any constraints on time and space.
To consider the government’s bargain would loosen up his worries about the people who mean a great deal to him. He could travel with ease, at will, and live his life as he used to.
To prefer the government’s forgiveness, he will be free again.
But Erap is a principled man. Will he compromise that principle for his pardon and live every waking day of the rest of his life in shame? Accepting that forgiveness would only mean the previous conviction was true.
According to Saguisag, [seemingly] the government is, in this instance, taking corrective responsibility in this country’s legal history by offering pardon to he who was unlawfully unseated from the presidency almost seven years ago. Not Saguisag’s exact words but to that effect. He went on to enumerate all the other legal impediments of establishing the 2001 de facto government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
It wasn’t easy to leave behind an unfinished term, especially in the presidency. Even the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos held on to that office until he was rescued by American choppers before an angry mob opened wide the palace doors and ransacked its interiors. Erap did not wait to be forced out of the palace.
The de facto government immortalized in legal tender. Click on the bill to find out what the images mean, BSP version.
The seeming reluctance in proclaiming then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the new chief executive created a vacuum in the executive branch of government for a while. Eventually, she was installed in that EDSA II event.
What followed, as you know it, was a witch-hunt on all of Erap’s dealings in government where money, large sums of money were involved. Some lawmakers termed it the new McCarthyism. And compelling evidences produced by witnesses led to Erap’s arrest.
His lawyers fought their hardest but, in the end, they were beaten. “The government was programmed to convict [Erap] no matter what,” Saguisag said.
The pardon is a worthy undertaking that Erap could consider, as Saguisag had acknowledged in a few words. But Erap is a principled man. His truth is his name.
His only plea was and still is, “not guilty”.
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Reference:
Photos of Erap Estrada and Rene Saguisag grabbed from ANC ch 27
Photo of 200 peso bill from Answers.com
