Friday, November 02, 2007 Ledesma: Treat or threat? By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
I PASSED by Merco at JP Rizal the other day to find a coterie of print and broadcast journalists squabbling over a question which they themselves raised obviously to improve on the taste of instant coffee.
"What was the motive/objective of PGMA in pardoning Estrada?" Tough question to answer but for a group who has all the answers to the woes of the world this one is just one of those they can tackle, no sweat.
Someone who looks like Chito Gavino thinks that the agenda of GMA is actually to save her skin from whoever will come after her in 2010. He surmised that as early as now, GMA with the help of her chief strategist, Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, has to entrenched herself from the slings and arrows that her successor will aim at her. Getting Erap to her side is a calculated move designed to shield her from the backlash of avenging opposition. The term for that is covering one's tract.
A witty writer who looks like Sonny Mendoza agrees with the erudite Chito Gavino. He however touched on the predicament of the opposition. "By the way, who is the presidential timber of the opposition?" he asked.
There was a long pause in the conversation. It was only broken when a Singaporean-looking newsman who resembles Fred Alonzo batted in to say that the motive of GMA was for reconciliation. Fred who is a diehard Estrada fan thinks that GMA wants to reconcile with Erap and to win Erap's legions of fanatical followers. I don't know whether Fred includes himself among the incorrigible flock of the disgraced president.
Later the trio turned to me to ask what I thought about the whole episode. I asked them back, what is it that they are doing that preoccupied them for the last one hour? Our instant coffee has become stale by then. Chito said that they had been arguing and debating about Estrada's pardon. Sonny and Fred nodded their heads in agreement.
So I told them that PGMA issued the clemency in haste so people, including coffee addicted journalists like them, will squabble and debate and in the process forget the scandals surrounding the NBN and CyberEd negotiations and Father now Governor Ed Panlilio's glorious mystery of a P500,000 gift from a faceless donor who resides in Malacañang grounds.
The pardon was so earth-shaking that even the Glorietta explosion was relegated to the inside pages. It's an astute political move. The rabid anti-Arroyo quarters and the so-called civil society can rave and rant but the horde of Erap fans know only one thing. Their idol is free and it's time to celebrate. (Go ask Councilor Edgar Ibuyan who's preparing a big party in Bankerohan to celebrate Erap's pardon).
In a while the noise will simmer down and before you know it it's election season again. Politics breeds strange bedfellows. GMA and Erap together? Who knows? It's even possible that the opposition, especially the ones salivating at the presidency and are preparing for 2010, dread the day both Gloria and Erap will announce they've agreed to field Jinggoy Estrada for president. So now, let's ask the question: "Is the executive clemency on Estrada a threat or treat?"
