Guilty or not guilty?
That’s the question most Filipinos will be asking more intensely beginning today until the Sandiganbayan releases its verdict on the plunder case against Joseph Estrada, et. al., on Wednesday.Not that we’ve not been asking ourselves that question since Estrada was first arraigned. It’s just that with the date of the decision being officially handed down just around the corner, the excitement – and the tension – is beginning to build.
And there are so many other factors present today that add up to the tension as well as to the drama.
Even the health condition of Estrada’s mother, Doña Mary Ejercito, has added to the emotions surrounding the coming announcement of the verdict. Somehow, I cannot escape the feeling of that her condition is some blessing in disguise should the verdict be unfavorable as that would always be a tough thing to bear for a mother. At the same time you can just imagine the difficulty that someone in Estrada’s shoes will have to face – a verdict on the one hand which could be unfavorable, plus the deteriorating health condition of your mother with whom you cannot always be.
The other day I tool a poll of friends, asking them what they would like the verdict to be as against what they think the verdict will be. With regard to the latter, the answer was an overwhelming "guilty", for almost the same reasons.
One, they argued that the Arroyo administration cannot afford a "not guilty" verdict as it will re-raise all the questions about the legitimacy of the transition in January of 2001, with some even insisting that a not guilty verdict should restore Erap to the presidency!
Some even said that a guilty verdict is all that the Arroyo government wants, to put a closure to Edsa 2, and provide it a golden opportunity to look magnanimous by offering a pardon or giving a grant of clemency.
A few others also take the tack that the Sandiganbayan wouldn’t dare to "overrule" the Supreme Court with a not guilty verdict – not that the highest court has directly ruled on the Erap case but that the upholding of the 2001 transition would be put into serious legal doubt if the graft court were to rule otherwise.
In fact I don’t even remember hearing anyone of my friends tell me that the ruling will be "not guilty".
On the first question, however, the opinion I gathered was evenly divided. I found most amusing, however, as well as most thought-provoking, the argument that the ruling will hopefully be "guilty" so that Gloria will realize that she is next!
As explained, the reasoning goes like this: A guilty verdict on Estrada should send a clear signal to one and all that even presidents have to go to jail for the criminal offenses they commit. What is true for Estrada should be true for Marcos, as well as Aquino, for Ramos as well as for Gloria – of course with the only exception where the legal period within which to bring a case against any of the former p[residents for a criminal offense has since expired.
This is not the case for Gloria, though, as people are waiting for her term to expire in 2010 – or for her to leave public office whether this be before or after 2010, so that proper charges could be leveled against her. An Estrada conviction will set that all-important precedent of a president on the dock, and a number of my friends see this as one of the silver linings of an Estrada conviction.
Erap today, Gloria tomorrow.
I suppose I am like most Filipinos. I am watching the drama unfold with bated breath, knowing that there is far more an impact on our society than just the here and now and the question whether a former president will walk or will remain in jail.
I agree with a newspaper ad the other day that the decision, hopefully, will be a matter of pure application of law on facts, but at the same time I sense that this being the Philippines such will remain an ideal for years to come.
But I do yearn for the time when the law is applied even to presidents and kings, where a president can go to jail for lying, stealing or cheating the same way that a working man can; where theft is theft whether it be for P1,000 or for P1 billion; where a crime is a crime whether it is a Cabinet secretary who commits it or an office secretary.
Will the Estrada decision be the first step in the right direction? Hopefully it will, and in the process take the sting out from the judgment. Because more than the guilt or innocence of Estrada, what is at stake is the process of restoring the rule of law to a country where the high and the mighty benefit from a different interpretation and execution of such rule of law.
Guilty or not guilty? Erap is not the only one on trial here. So is Gloria. So are all of us.
Let’s see who gets justice in the end.
