Saturday, September 15, 2007 Carvajal: What now, Philippines? By Orlando P. Carvajal Break Point
I GOT sick in the stomach hearing former president Joseph Estrada on the eve of the verdict claim that the people have already acquitted him. It was hypocritical rhetoric and unerringly consistent with his line of defense which was to “paint the judges black” and, if I might add, President Arroyo blacker.
The fact, however, that no people power type of protest materialized after the guilty verdict would seem to mean that deep down in people’s hearts they know that he is guilty. It had been obvious to all but his political allies that he used his office to amass wealth and flaunted it by lavishing mansions on his mistresses.
The Sandigangbayan merely made official what the people have known all along.
Unfortunately but as expected, reactions to the verdict were drawn according to political lines. The opposition disagrees with the verdict and still hopes for justice that Sen. Manny Villar says Erap “richly deserves.” (No pun intended, senator?) The administration is happy the verdict has given PGMA’s first term a semblance of legitimacy.
Under the circumstances we have no way of knowing how the court arrived at such a decision. Was it based on incontrovertible evidence as the administration claims or on the dictate of political expediency as the opposition contends? The fact remains that the seemingly impossible has happened. A really big fish in government has been convicted of plunder, something that was simply beyond any decent Filipino’s wildest dreams.
This precedent setting conviction opens up a lot of possibilities for the country.
The opposition’s fundamental weakness was having a leader who was on trial for plunder. Hence, they could only campaign by painting PGMA as worse.
This allegation could, of course, still be true, but more pertinently true is the fact that Erap’s conviction has further weakened the opposition who must now look for another leader. We do not really know which is blacker than the other only that both are at the very least equally black.
Whiteness or purity in politics cannot come from either the opposition or the administration. The opposition in the Senate is not doing anything positive but still wasting a lot of time painting the administration black with the revival of the “Garci” investigation. The administration on the other hand has still to catch a plunderer from among them, and we know there are many.
So what now, Philippines? We have an opportunity here to reject the present ruling elite as bankrupt of any sense of decency in their politics. We have an opportunity here to build up a people’s power movement (like Dilaab?) for the restoration of the Filipino soul that is now smothered in the blackness of the politics of its leaders.
