Erap

As of this writing, the decision of the court for Estrada on plunder case is guilty. He was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. But the verdict is no way the final curtain that closes the drama that lasted for six years. Our seventy-year old former president can still appeal to the Supreme Court for finality of his case whether he would stay in jail in Muntinlupa or be released and enjoy the freedom outside the confines of prison.

There is something to feel glad about it. There is something to feel hope in our judicial system. Once in a while we Filipinos need good news. This is one of them but it should never end here. This should only be the beginning to serve as a strong warning and deterrent for those who abuse their office and authority. If Erap is seen as a sacrificial goat, of course not blameless as he was, let him be for the sake of justice in the Philippines. Let us then wait to hear good news about cases of graft and corruption against the Marcoses, Hernani Perez, Gen. Carlos Garcia and “Jose Pidal.”

All this talk that the judgment is “politically motivated” as the accused himself said and “unfair” is pure nonsense. They have not read the whole text of the ruling. Although these justices are presidential appointees, beholden to a certain extent to the president, they have their own mind and independence on the matter long perfected in their exemplary legal careers.

Some are carried away by emotions. It is not appeal to reason but appeal to pity that they wanted their idol to be exonerated from the charges. Others call for pardon in lieu of his years of stay in Tanay. Regarding pardon or JDV’s dumb call for amnesty, the mention of these is too early and premature. Let the wheel of justice turn its due course. It is not reconciliation that they want. It is the postponement, the delay of national catharsis for renewal as it happened during the Aquino and Ramos administrations.

Wisdom can be found in the depiction of the eyes of Themis, the goddess of justice, being blindfolded. Big or small man, whatever is your station in life, the scales of justice will not favor you because of wealth, power and fame but on the basis only of truth. For those who clamored for pardon or even acquittal, think of a security guard on duty caught of sleeping on his post. Immediately, he was fired. Or consider a man caught of shoplifting a can of sardines for his starving child. Right away, he was put in prison.

In fairness to Erap, he believed in our judiciary and took his so-called gamble. He submitted to the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan and rejected offers by the administration for him to go abroad. Something that is admirable. If he had fled to the US or elsewhere, then the people might think that he was culpable of those crimes imputed on him. He did what a leader of his people should have done. That is to face the bar of justice as well as of history. Such statesmanlike deed is found in the real life story of Asiong Salonga.

On a personal note, when as college students we interviewed him regarding our thesis on EDSA II, he accommodated us graciously in his detention cell at the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center. The Sandiganbayan did not grant our request but managed the interview nonetheless. But the greatest Erap joke that happened to me was to receive on that same day, pirated, yes pirated copy of his cd “Ama ng Masa” with his dedication.

[First published in People's Digest Newsweekly (Dagupan City) (September 11-17, 2007)]

Garci and Doble

Garcillano might be contemplating again on another escape. So, immigration officers particularly in Mindanao, be on alert! The Senate might one of these days issue a subpoena for him to appear before the hearing.

But Garci is as hardheaded and arrogant as Bedol. Will he appear? It depends. If his higher ups tell him not to, in accordance with Executive Order No. 464, he will never. Although he is not per se under the Executive Branch, he is. He is under that person whom he catapulted to power and who is beholden to him.

Others would readily dismiss this reinvestigation of the Hello Garci tape scandal as another opposition gimmickry. If it’s another of Lacson’s hype for the coming presidential election as Enrile had surmised, is another matter. We cannot again condone past mistakes by forgetting it because Filipinos are known to have short memories. This shameful electoral practice involving the presidency should not only be uncovered; culprits should be punished.

Those who oppose this move are blinded by their own selfish interests. The reason why they are in office, we are not talking only of cabinet members but all members of the government bureaucracy, is because of the continued rule of a cheat. In other words, their authority rests on the illegitimacy of the current occupant of Malacañang.

Being sorry for what she did is forgivable but it must be accompanied by remorse and repentance. Arroyo could have allowed the truth to surface in the first instance but she did not. Heads could have rolled and one of them should be Garci’s. Then, this fiasco was followed by the Bedol-Maguindanao controversy. Where’s contrition here? By trying to stifle again this Senate inquiry through administration senators, there is really something that the public must know, which should not be encumbered by mere legal technicalities as Joker Arroyo et al are trying to do.

Joker’s position is not surprising. For someone who had benefited from the administration’s machinery during the last election, he is indebted to GMA. One wonders what happened to that Joker who uttered indignantly: “…we cannot have a country run by a thief.” So, does he now permit a country run by a cheat?

The probe should not be limited to the cheating. It must also include a detailed exploration on the alleged wiretapping activities of the ISAFP. Vidal Doble should be closely grilled as to the extent of this. Why did this happen? Who were behind this incident?

There must be a link somewhere between the Garci tape scandal and the Aragoncillo espionage. It’s in the Senate’s hands to find out. [Email me at dissentpdn@gmail.com]

[First published in People's Digest Newsweekly (Dagupan City) (September 4-10, 2007)]

Jueteng is back!

Yes, you read me right, jueteng is back in Pangasinan.

This illegal numbers game with supposedly Chinese provenance is doing a great comeback. In Urdaneta City, in my own barangay, it is an open secret that it is everywhere. Kubradors, one or two of them are my uncles, are going from house to house, from one street to the next to collect bets from a network of relatives and friends.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not against it. But if the government says it has stamped out jueteng not only from the province but in other localities as well, then how come it is back as if nothing happened.

Records of these jueteng operators and their cohorts are with the police. It would be easy for them to do surveillance and check these people one by one if they are back in the business. One only needs to ask a common tao, then loads of information can be gathered. The only conclusion that can be said is that jueteng is back because someone gave the go signal. Somebody allowed it. If you ask me who he is, I don’t know but ask the police, surely they know.

A prize-winning film, Kubrador, had recently depicted the culture at work in jueteng. It is a game of cat and mouse between operators and kubradors, and the police. Actress Gina Pareño who portrayed the central role of an aged mother as the bet collector did a wonderful job. When I first saw this indie movie at UP, I was positive it could win awards and unsurprisingly it did from abroad. It made me more sympathetic to the plight of these bet collectors, victims of unemployment and poverty in the country.

If it is a national policy to eliminate jueteng, then it should never be selective. It must be done without prejudice or favor to certain personalities or groups. The government must also provide livelihood to these ordinary people whose daily sustenance depends on jueteng.

Actually, jueteng provides jobs to people. Usually bet collectors are in their mid-forties to sixties who are unemployed. If one of their bettors wins, they will get percentage from the winning or what we call balato. An operator can employ more than ten kubradors and I am speaking of more than one operator in Urdaneta and in the whole of Pangasinan. The police, I am very certain, know this.

No doubt jueteng is a big business, which brings us to an alternative. If it is a big business, then it is practical and pragmatic for local government units to require them to pay taxes by demanding them to register as legal operators of a gambling enterprise. PAGCOR and LGUs should sort out the ways they can cooperate in this matter. In other words, let us legalize jueteng. The Church will definitely protest but my uncles and I don’t care. [email me at dissentpdn@gmail.com]

[First published in People's Digest Newsweekly (Dagupan City) (August 28-September 3, 2007)]