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Friday, March 12, 2004
El Shaddai, INC back Glo on Erap treatment
MANILA -- Two religious groups who supported former President Joseph Estrada in the 1998 elections defended Thursday the humane and compassionate treatment extended to Estrada by the government.
Mel Robles, spokesman of El Shaddai, said the El Shaddai and the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), through its spokesman Bienvenido Santiago, are concerned 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, Rizal.
Robles, in a telephone interview, said they did not hear similar protests when Abu Sayyaf leader Ghalib Andang, alias 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.
President Arroyo, at the same time, defended the perks enjoyed by the deposed president as a sop to the poor who identify with the former movie star.
Michael Defensor, presidential campaign spokesman, said the treatment given to Estrada, who has not been declared guilty yet, should not be deemed as intervention with the legal process.
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 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, Philippine National Police (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.
The Ombudsman is investigating a criminal complaint filed against Arroyo and two others for allegedly allowing Estrada, who is detained without bail while on trial for corruption, to make illegal home visits.
Critics have accused Arroyo of pandering to Estrada to court his political supporters ahead of the May 10 presidential election, in which she is seeking a six-year term.
Former vice president Arroyo was elected vice president in 1998 but took over the presidency after a popular revolt ousted Estrada in January 2001.
When Estrada was subsequently arrested for corruption, tens of thousands of his supporters from Manila's slums attacked the presidential palace on May 1, 2001, sparking the deadliest rioting in the capital in decades.JMR
(March 12, 2004 issue)
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