The Truth Of Joseph Estrada
Call me cynical, call me arrogant, call me idealistic, or maybe you can call me justified. But didn’t it bother anyone else, that the interfaith rally last Friday had on stage the former symbol of corruption in The Philippines? Former, or maybe just the previous, it’s a play on words really. He was convicted. He was almost impeached. And Joseph Ejercito “Erap” Estrada was overthrown because of corruption at the highest office in the land. So why even have him on stage? Could it be that in order to garner support for the interfaith rally, they needed someone that still appealed to the masses?
I for one, was disheartened, but not surprised. The call of the day is to focus on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her wrongdoings, and trust me, that’s a litany of wrongdoings that could last for hours on end. But to have Erap on stage, the very person that the people saw fit to overthrow because of corruption, the same type of allegations we are all lauding over President Gloria Arroyo seems perplexing to say the least.
The truth of Joseph Estrada is that he is a man that has had his fair share of corruption during his tenure in office. He is a man that has not been leveled with the full justice that he deserves, and he is a man that is enjoying his personal and political freedoms only because President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo deemed it fit for her political survival to pardon him.
He does not stand for the justice that we want for Gloria, he does not stand for the truth that we seek, he does not stand for what our country should be and could become despite the corruption that pervades the land. He is now and forever shall be, part of the culture of corruption. The argument is that we should welcome all who call for Gloria’s resignation, but lest we forget, the call for Gloria’s resignation is based on the fact that we as a nation abhor the concept and enactment of corruption in our government.
Hypocrites we may become if we can only support our current agenda without considering the totality of our greater and more noble cause of ending corruption in The Philippines, and this must start with denouncing the very actions of Joseph Estrada, the same actions we are condemning Gloria for.
We can move forward with this patriotic endeavor towards ending the term of Gloria, for her culture of corruption, but without her predecessor helping to lead the way. He is not a beacon for truth. He is a beacon for just the opposite.
This is the truth of Joseph Estrada. Blunt. But justified. In my humble opinion.
hello sir! i agree with what you wrote, strongly! erap is no less than gloria, they are both dishonest! i say, “erap, gimme a break!” *__* di ko nga po alam kung matatawa ako sa ginagawa nya or mabubuwisit!
I couldn’t agree more. I was scoffing the whole time I was listening to him give his speech last Friday.
I have come to the conclusion that People power is actually a form of liberal fascism when it is wielded as a political tactic to overthrow Presidents. It is the rule of insurgents, not institutions. It was really after Edsa Dos that the Military gained the status of untouchability it did not have since Marcos. But I know why a revolutionary situation was not declared at Edsa Dos and a new constitution promulgated. It was because Davide and the Supreme Court knew that the People would not have ratified it.
We should require any people power movement to have its results ratified by the People at a plebiscite.
Edsa Dos Diehards are still clueless about how THEY destroyed the system of checks and balances that has led to this dysfunctional government.
Erap may have been corrupt. But he was no fascist. He respected democracy. That is why the demonstrations got so big. He never ran away despite many chances and reasons to do so. He took his medicine like a man, despite being the only truly democratically elected President.
I have more respect for him than people power idiotarians.
The people power moralists are funny too. Without the Military in Mutiny, and a chief justice ready to abort impeachment trials because he knows the accused is about to be acquitted, “people power” amounts to nothing more than psychic dentistry.
Erap is not dfferent from you current hero Jun Lozada. If you can give Jun the second chance, why not Erap? Why not even extend to Gloria.
The owner of this blog is a confused man. Extend to Erap and to even to Glorai what you extended to Jun Lozado. After all, they are all crooks trying to serve the people.
Funny.
I think we all have mistakes, we are saying that the previous and present administration are corrupt still, we tolerate it for all of us are afraid and culturally greedy and crab of power. All of us are eaten already, the predator is choked.
Perhaps, Erap will continue to have the major sentiments of the Filipinos. Erap life is an open secret. Gloria does not…