Just a few days after the Holy Father's visit in the Philippines, when the country felt blessed with mercy and compassion, the Supreme Court has surprisingly extended these theological attributes to Joseph Estrada, deposed Philippine president and incumbent mayor of Manila. The High Court, voting 11-3, dismissed the disqualification case against him. Supreme Court Spokesman Theodore Te says: "The majority characterized the pardon extended by Mrs. Arroyo to Mr. Estrada (in 2007) as absolute, thereby restoring Mr. Estrada's qualifications to stand as candidate in the last Mayoralty elections".
Voting for the dismissal were Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Presbitero Velasco Jr., Arturo Brion, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano Del Castillo, Martin Villarama Jr. , Jose Perez, Jose Mendoza, Bienvenido Reyes, and Estela Perlas-Bernabe. With the exception of Reyes and Perlas-Bernabe, the others are Arroyo appointees. It seems to me that the first nine justices have remembered their patron, with help of the other two Aquino appointees. One cannot fail to surmise that this court acted as an Arroyo court!
Voting against the dismissal were Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Justices Antonio Carpio, and Marvic Mario Victor Leonen. Carpio is the lone Arroyo appointee among the three.
I have been vocal against Estrada's candidacy for mayor of the city of my birth way back in 2013 due to the plunder case of which he was found guilty of by the Sandiganbayan (anti-graft court). Apart from this case, I didn't buy the idea that Erap would just run for a term before retiring (Is there a retirement age in politics? Come on! Imelda Marcos who's older than Estrada is still in public office).
It is unfortunate that Arroyo has granted presidential pardon to a mandarambong (Tagalog for plunderer) not so much for the good of the country, but more for her political agenda. And because Erap had done these sins with impunity (highlighted word borrowed from the the late Msgr. Nico Bautista who once told me how Estrada behaved as a public servant) and never showed any remorse, the pardon became a ticket for him to run for the presidency in 2010 and then the mayoralty in 2013. With the disqualification case being dismissed, this kapalmuks (thick faced) action star-turned-politician is ready for a come-back to Malacañan (God, forbid it!).
I hope that Alicia Vidal and former Mayor Alfredo Lim, the case's petitioner and intervenor respectively, would file a motion for reconsideration.
Meanwhile, days before this infamous court decision was made, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago filed Senate Bill 2568 that seeks perpetual disqualification for a public servant convicted of plunder, even if pardoned by the president. Plunder, as defined by Republic Act 7080 as the accumulation of ill-gotten wealth through a combination or series of overt criminal acts in the aggregate amount of P50 million by a public official. According to the feisty solon, the theft of such amount is "is unforgivably criminal, and no person who is capable of such act has a place in public office”.
According to the editorial of the Philippine Daily Inquirer: "Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago’s bill seeking the perpetual disqualification from public office of a government official convicted of plunder—even if pardoned by the president—is a timely corrective to the looming threat posed by Estrada running again for the presidency in a never-ending effort to vindicate his name. The bill deserves wide public support and should be passed by Congress, if it knows any better. A crime is a crime—more so if it’s as heinous as plunder. Popularity does not expunge it; otherwise, we can dispense with the justice system altogether and look to the horde, like the old Romans did, for a thumbs up or a thumbs down on a person’s guilt" (http://opinion.inquirer.net/82095/miriams-measure)
I commend Miriam for filing this bill. In spite of her lung cancer, she continues to serve the people by passing bills such as this. If P-Noy is dead serious in driving the final nail on corruption's coffin, he should mark this bill as urgent. Should the bill finally becomes a law, that would be a sound legacy he could leave his countrymen.
St. Thomas Aquinas, whose feast is celebrated as of this writing, once said "To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin". Filipinos are know to be matiisin (forebearance) to the point that we are being robbed in broad daylight. If we condone the likes of Erap and Arroyo (Politicians scratch each others back!) it won't only be ourselves bearing the brunt of their wickedness.Our children and our children's children would surely suffer, the way they are/will be liable to pay the country's debt servicing thanks to Ferdinand Marcos (and his successors). Enough is enough!
