Lessons from Erap
It took six years and four months, but it finally happened: a president deposed amid charges of corruption was convicted of plunder and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. Where Filipinos failed in the case of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, it succeeded with Joseph Estrada, who was also permanently barred from holding public office.The ruling handed down by the Sandiganbayan yesterday cannot please everyone, and the political opposition is trying to give the verdict a political spin. Even before Estrada was arrested in late April 2001, however, many Filipinos were already convinced of his guilt, throwing him out of Malacañang amid his impeachment trial for large-scale corruption, and then replacing him with his constitutional successor. An indication of public sentiment regarding the case was the dismal turnout at the rally for Estrada yesterday near the Sandiganbayan. The peaceful response to the verdict buoyed the markets.
The fate that has befallen a man who won the presidency by the largest margin ever in this country should serve as a welcome warning that corruption does not pay. The message is valuable in a society where corruption is deeply rooted and where public office is not regarded as a public trust but rather as a sure path to personal wealth. The nation’s failure to make any of the Marcoses pay for the abuses of the martial law regime, including the “kleptocracy” of the so-called conjugal dictatorship, gave the impression that in this country, the small fry get caught while the big fish get away with everything.
Estrada is the biggest fish ever caught in the anti-graft net, and his conviction for massive corruption or plunder shows a nation’s determination to stamp out the scourge. Even if he continues to receive VIP treatment as a prisoner and eventually gets pardoned or paroled, he is being made to account for high crimes. A powerful message has been sent: the people are watching, and no one is above the law.
