Pardon me for not joining….

Many are crying foul over the impending pardon for Joseph Estrada. No, I won’t be joining them.

I have no love for Estrada; I voted for Lim in 1998. So when Estrada was impeached, it was fine with me, I shed no tears. I was at EDSA in January 19, 2001. I was at home the next day, watching TV with my mom. I was surprised when Gloria Arroyo was sworn in as President, when it was clear that Estrada did not resign. It would be a problem, I told my mom. Well, look where we are now. (In this regard, I agree with the dilemma posed by Dean Jorge Bocobo, and there’s no getting away from it.)

Anyway, why I am not joining the call against the Estrada pardon?

One, the supposed message that it would send to everyone. When the Sandiganbayan found Estrada guilty on two counts of plunder, here’s what I had said:

My view: For those who are claiming that this verdict should be a warning to all corrupt politicians – in your dreams. The justice system remains broken as ever, and nothing has changed. A single verdict will not change the system. As long as you continue electing corrupt politicians, as long as you selectively put corrupt people in jail, as long as you tolerate petty violations of the law, as long as apathy reigns among us, no amount of jail time nor gun shots can address corruption.

This is not the time to celebrate. We must now buckle down to work, and start with ourselves. Start by following simple traffic rules. Start by stopping bribery in any form. Start by electing the right people. Start by holding ALL OF OUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE. Start by paying attention to what is happening around us.

If we don’t start now, it is only a matter of time before another Chavit surfaces. Yes, he should be in jail, too.

(ASIDE: Well, Chavit resurfaced. Heh.)

Some people keep on looking for a magic pill, and for some, Erap’s conviction was the magic pill. How wrong they are. Even if Estrada is not pardoned, the rampant corrupt practices will continue since the problem is endemic and systemic. And keeping Estrada in jail is not the first step. The first step begins with each of us.

Two, we are being selective. Estrada has been convicted. There are others who remain at large, taunting justice, mocking our laws, fooling all of us. How come I am not seeing the same vehemence when it comes to these rascals? Read this memo, and then get back to me to answer the previous question.

Three, I simply will not join people who dump their trash at me and refuses to pick it up.

Pardon or no pardon, nothing shall change unless WE CHANGE.

October 24th, 2007

9 Comments

Jump to comment form | Comments RSS | Trackback URI | Tags:
  • http://ghillie-suits.info/?p=24337 Ghillie Suits » Pardon me for not joining…. « blog @ AWBHoldings.com

    [...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt us, no amount of jail time nor gun shots can address corruption. This is not the time [...]

  • http://chickenmafia.com joyfulchicken

    I agree that keeping Erap in jail won’t do much to stop government corruption, but isn’t letting him off the hook even worse?

    Just because we can’t catch all the fish doesn’t mean that we should throw the ones we do catch back in the ocean, right? :-P

  • http://awbholdings.com Arbet

    Josh, that is not the point. I am not advocating a pardon.

    The problem is that the fish is staring us in the face, but we keep on looking away.

    And I am miffed off by the hypocrisy and selectiveness by these fools. Again, keeping Erap in jail doesn’t change anything with these fools around. THAT is the problem.

  • http://tesstermulo.com Prudence

    “keeping Erap in jail doesn’t change anything…”

    — I agree, especially if he’s kept in a mansion, with high walls, and all the comfortable amenities not found in the usual prison cell and still they call it “jail”.

    However, I’m appalled that the president granted a pardon to Estrada. He should have returned everything that he had plundered, if he wanted pardon.

    And I find it extremely arrogant of GMA to be granting such pardon. Did that stroke her ego, that Estrada had affirmed the legitimacy of her presidency?

    But then, what could we do? Now that Estrada’s granted a pardon, who could put him back in jail?

  • http://www.schumey.blogspot.com/ Schumey

    Politics of political survival.

  • http://awbholdings.com Arbet

    Dra. Tess, there’s nothing more we can do about the pardon. But we can still do something about that person who issued the pardon. As for the money, the amount that is forfeited remains forfeited, according to the pardon declaration.

    Hi, Schumey, we already know that. The problem is that we let her do that (okay, others let her do that).

  • http://www.manila-bay-watch.blogspot.com manila bay watch

    Agree entirely with what you say Arbet!

  • http://www.manilabaywatch.blogspot.com manila bay watch

    I personally never recognized Gloria as president, not when she grabbed the presidency with the help of Davide in 2001 and certainly not after 2004 when we discovered that she cheated in elections. Her phone palling with Garci is enough evidence for me that she had cheated, add to that the circumstancial evidences involving military recycling, even the most objective john doe would be hard put to say there’s no palpable evidence of her guilt.

  • http://sikwati.wordpress.com/2007/10/28/pardon-with-a-price/ PARDON WITH A PRICE « the bystander

    [...] I hopped from one blog to another hoping to get a “feel” of the various reactions people have over Gloria Arroyo’s granting executive clemency to Joseph Estrada.  While some like Schumey and the Black and White Movement strongly oppose Erap’s untimely freedom, others like Arbet are not too keen on joining the anti-pardon bandwagon.  [...]

  • Ads

  • Ads

    Cdjapan Manga

  • Sections

  • Entrecard

<