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Friday, March 12, 2004
El Shaddai, Iglesia ni Cristo express support for humanitarian treatment for Erap
THE Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) and the Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai on Thursday expressed support for the humanitarian and compassionate treatment extended to former president Joseph Estrada by the government which is now under fire for allowing the former state leader’s occasional visit to his vacation house in Tanay in Rizal while in detention.
Michael Defensor, presidential campaign spokesman, made the revelation in an interview from Calamba in Laguna where President Arroyo was holding her campaign sortie Thursday.
He says our culture teaches us to be compassionate to everyone. “He is a former head of state and Pres. Estrada went through a judicial process and has not been declared guilty yet. Accordingly, it should not be deemed as intervention with the legal process,” Defensor said.
Arroyo, in press conference, welcomed the support of the INC and the El Shaddai on the issue, adding the government was not simply extending a special treatment to one man but to “many of the poor” who see themselves in Estrada.
She said that though “the operational details are not mine to handle,” this has been her policy towards Estrada since she assumed the presidency in 2001.
The President added she understands those who are against the “special treatment” of Estrada, noting they are merely expressing themselves.
“In any society you have hardliners, hawks, moderates, it's really democracy that it is all about,” she added.
Arroyo, Defensor, PNP Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and police security and protection office head, Chief Supt. Rolando Sacramento, were charged with consenting to evasion from prison and usurpation of juridical functions before the Ombudsman.
Plunder Watch, No to Corruption and Tyranny, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Coalition for Unity Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and the Health Alliance for Democracy, Labor and Advocates filed the charges Tuesday.
Mel Robles, spokesman of El Shaddai, said they and the INC, through its spokesman Bienvenido Santiago, are expressing their concern with the way the anti-graft and militant groups are making a big issue out of Estrada’s visits to their family rest house, five meters across his detention cell in Camp Capinpin in Tanay.
Robles in a telephone interview said they did not hear similar protests when Abu Sayyaf leader Ghalib Andang, a.k.a. Kumander Robot, was accorded medical treatment after his arrest despite being charged with heinous crimes.
He said these groups were also silent when cult leader Ruben Ecleo, who has been charged for the murder of his wife and some in-laws, was allowed to post bail to be able to seek treatment for his heart ailment.
“On these contentions, why can’t a former president be accorded the same compassionate accommodation?” Robles said.
“Humane, fair and just treatment of an accused is the least that can be expected in a country like ours which has been for centuries nurtured by Christian values,” Robles and Santiago said in the joint statement.
“It is about time to heal the nation and this can be attained if everyone will contribute his share of compassion and self-sacrifice for the common good,” they added. (JMR)
(March 12, 2004 issue)
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