Tuesday, October 30, 2007 Editorial: Exoneration, not reparation
HAVING generally escaped major criticism from the public for its nearly immediate issuance of executive clemency to former President Joseph Estrada, some wise guys in the President's Cabinet are now toying with the idea of appointing the latter as an anti-poverty advisor.
Aside of course from slapping the faces of the prosecutors who could only gnash their teeth at all the six year efforts gone to waste, the appointment of Estrada to any government position even if only in an advisory capacity is in bad taste to say the least.
For one thing, Estrada is certainly no Nelson Mandela whose release from prison drew wide support for his candidacy to the presidency. And unlike Mandela, Estrada didn't have to suffer the indignity of being placed in cells but stayed in the comfort of his own home.
Granted that Mandela wasn't a former president but that's the point; he was a political prisoner of conscience while Estrada only suffered the ignominy of being ousted from his post by a few hundred thousand people trying to imitate the first Edsa Revolution.
The former President is convicted of plunder even with the noise created by his supporters that he is innocent. And that's something that can only be erased with a Supreme Court ruling, which both Estrada and Arroyo didn't have the luxury of time to wait.
Now that the Arroyo administration issued the pardon it should have silenced its Cabinet members into speaking only in a uniform fashion and not by issuing personal opinions on a still obviously sensitive topic.
Of course Presidential Management Staff Director Cerge Remonde may be engaged in wishful thinking when he and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye announced the supposed offer.
But they shouldn't speak their minds out on this issue and instead gauged whether public opinion supports such an appointment.
The Filipinos aren't that gullible when it comes to public officials convicted of crimes. These officials shouldn't fast track public sentiment which for the most part had been forgiving towards Estrada and willing to support a pardon but not immediate restitution.
Exoneration maybe, but not reparation since Estrada didn't lose anything more than what a former leader facing major crimes did which is freedom.
And even then he gets regular visits to his ailing mother so he wasn't that deprived. The best thing for the Arroyo cabinet to do is shut up and let their leader speak.
