I don’t need to hear mournful violins over a slow-motion montage of scenes of ex-President Erap getting arrested and booked at Camp Crame, but that’s exactly what I was subjected to by the TV news. Whenever I see “poor,” “pitiful” Erap on TV, I don’t hear violins, I hear The Ramones singing, “Twenty twenty twenty-four hours to go, I wanna be sedated!” (Just get me to the airport! Put me on a plane! Hurry hurry hurry! Before I go insane!)
Here’s a bit of cinema trivia: Erap’s filmography includes such films as Sugapa (Rapacious) and Markang Rehas (Mark of the Prisoner).
Before he got arrested, Erap made a speech in which he touted his “achievements” and pointed out all the nasty things he didn’t do, like clamp down on the free media and disperse the crowds at Edsa II. All these are beside the point. He was arrested for what the evidence says he did do, like steal our money and use the public coffers as his piggy bank.
Suddenly Erap speaks fluent English. He did a live interview with the BBC in which he chanted “lack of due process” like a mantra. The BBC’s Nik Gowing pointed out that the fact that cases have been filed and he would be arrested and tried is due process. Erap complained that his side wasn’t heard during the impeachment trial. Well he should’ve told his cohorts to vote to open the dang envelope.
The cosmos must love columnists, because it showers us with material. Consider the irony of the poor defending their hero Erap...in swanky North Greenhills. In quantum physics, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle notes that the presence of an observer alters the behavior of the particle under observation. In Pinoy physics, the presence of television cameras alters the behavior of Erap supporters, or as we call them, extras. When they know they are being watched, they get hysterical. They weep, wail, tear their hair, and beat their chests. They throw themselves on the ground, pound on the asphalt with their fists and feet, and shriek their lungs out (in the economical Tagalog, naglulupasay). In other words, they are auditioning.
Yes, there are true believers among them-people who believe that Erap had their best interests at heart when he got kickbacks from jueteng and built fabulous mansions for his mistresses. You have to respect their commitment if not their intelligence. Which leads to the question many of our countrymen have been asking lately: Are Filipinos stupid?
1) There are stupid people of all nationalities. In every country, there are more stupid people than there are intelligent people. (For the nth time: Read The Marching Morons by C.M. Kornbluth.) In our country, the smattering of intelligent people, through lack of foresight or sheer arrogance, could not join forces and field a common candidate who could beat Erap in the 1998 elections. They went their separate ways, dividing their already small ranks. There are also the intelligent people who thought they were being pragmatic by licking Erap’s feet. The intelligent are as much to blame for Erap as the stupid.
2) There are hooligans everywhere, even in prosperous countries. In our country they are being used by unscrupulous politicians who would do anything to cling to power.
3) Hang political correctness, we’re talking malnutrition and lack of prenatal care, an inadequate educational system, and glue-sniffing. Problems the intelligent people should’ve addressed, but somehow haven’t gotten around to.
Erap’s defenders have gone on TV decrying the manner in which Erap was arrested. They described the presence of 500 policemen (reports vary) in North Greenhills as “overkill” and said we had become a “police state.”
Hello, the police weren’t there to drag Erap out of his house, they were there to provide security in case the fans gathered on Polk Street chose vehement means of self-expression. For days before the arrest warrant was issued, Erap’s lawyers kept saying he would surrender voluntarily. What their definition of “voluntary” is, I have no idea; negotiations had to be held.
“Are we turning into Indonesia?” someone wailed. Tell you what: When the Dayaks come to your door with a basket just big enough for your head, we’re Indonesia. As far as I know, we’re still in the Philippines.