Saturday, September 08, 2007 Ledesma: Erap's fate and surveys By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
THE survey that showed Joseph Estrada innocent is contemptuous, to say the least, and whoever was behind that must not have resisted temptation for the many million reasons why they held one on the run-up to the Sandiganbayan's verdict in the Estrada plunder case, and only in a limited political base that is patently anti-administration.
The scheme was dubious; the objective was unabashedly commercial and therefore bereft of any political or moral values. There has been a well-orchestrated attempt to scare or maybe waylay the Sandiganbayan and the Arroyo administration that there will be an upheaval of sort if the former president who is facing a crime of plunder will be convicted. To the credit of the graft court, it issued a curt statement that surveys and threats will not influence its decision.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her ilk should have done the same thing: dismiss the intimidation and just go on with the regular business of running the affairs of the government as if Erap and his trial do not exist. Problem with Arroyo lackeys is that they auspiciously show up in Estrada's confinement and even let their statements published that the palace is not averse to giving Erap an absolute pardon. Smack of a scared cow.
Erap seems to sense that the tenant in the palace is scared that he even up the ante by declaring with all the braggadocio that he will not accept any pardon from the President if he will be convicted. He is telling Metro Manilans (who were the respondents in the survey) that he is innocent. By saying that he expects his loyalists to rise and go to the street to rally for his freedom.
But that plot will only work against his scheme. If Arroyo really has the guts, she might just allow Erap, assuming he is convicted, to have his wish: to go straight to Muntinlupa and compare notes with Romy Jalosjos, anyway they may have one or two things in common. If Arroyo does that then she can redeem herself from the cowardice of his subalterns.
Anyway, I don't think that Erap's incorrigible loyalists will waste their time at Edsa. The days of People Power are long gone. Plunder is not enough motivation for people to march to the streets. Corrupt dictatorship will.
Remember the last time the cabal of Hyatt 10, ranking military officers, desperate political opposition with an ex-president and the CPP-NPA included attempted to stoke rebellion against President Arroyo? The people, tired of the same faces and the same antics, opted to stay in their living rooms oblivious of what's going on outside their homes.
Don't expect the people to mass at Edsa or storm the palace just because Erap will be convicted in contravention to the result of the survey that he is innocent. Ano ito beauty contest? If this is the way our justice system works, then SWS might just as well conduct a survey in Dipolog and Dapitan to determine whether the people there think that Jalosjos is guilty of his crime or not. Well, I think you can guess the result.
Just because a million or two or even five million people think Erap (remember there were only 600 people surveyed) is innocent does not a not-guilty judgment make. It's emotional perception. That's why even CBCP (Catholic Bishops of the Philippines) does not want to be dragged into the fray. So there you are. Let's wait for judgment day.
If the court says Erap is innocent, then his loyalists can fiesta. If he will be convicted, let him go straight to Munti. If he gets a lighter sentence then lets hope he has learned his lessons, he has languished in detention long enough anyway. And so let's hope that this episode in the life of the most popular president of the Philippines be a lesson to all politicians that dipping one's finger in the cookie jar might consign you to the calaboose. So beware of ZTE deal.
