Although presidential aides have been trying to downplay the significance of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s recent statements on allowing former President Joseph Estrada to travel to the United States ostensibly for medical treatment, it seems clear that she is about to practically junk the corruption trial against Estrada, all in the name of political expediency.

According to private prosecutor Leonard de Vera, who is trying to secure Estrada’s conviction on corruption charges, Malaca?ang Palace is planning to allow Estrada to travel to the US on condition that he not appeal any conviction and that he not return to the Philippines. Once that was done, either Arroyo or the next president would pardon him. All of this would be done to secure the support of Estrada supporters in the May 2004 presidential elections, or at least to neutralize them as a source of spirited opposition.

Now, if anyone had suggested this just six months ago, most would think it a loony idea of epic proportions. Not any more. After the bruising fight that opposition congressmen launched against Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. a few weeks ago, and lost, President Arroyo has shown more and more to what lengths she is prepared to go in order to hang onto power. Right after the Davide affair, the president promptly declared that she was launching a national reconciliation effort by reaching out to the Marcoses, to the groups of Estrada, business magnate Eduardo Cojuangco, rebels and her political foes such as Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Of course it can be argued that the ongoing trials of Estrada (on corruption), Cojuangco (over the millions in stolen coconut levies), Marcoses (corruption), and Lacson (over robbery suspects who were allegedly executed) , serve only to drag down the Philippines and not allow the country to move forward. With their hordes of well-paid lawyers and with considerable political power, all of the above-mentioned people have managed to avoid being convicted by any Philippine court. Call it a perversion of justice if you want, but it is a fact that they have succeeded in running circles around the judicial system. Look at Imelda Marcos, she’s never even spent a single night in jail!

Although a few senators have grumbled about President Arroyo’s pronouncements unduly influencing the court conducting Estrada’s corruption trial, I haven’t seen any mass street demonstrations against allowing Estrada to escape scot-free from massive corruption charges. Where are the Edsa-II crowds? Where is the indignant civil society that rose up in January 2001 in disgust at the former president’s alleged corruption?

Although I do believe that forgiving your enemies can be both healing and positive, allowing Estrada to go into exile in the US sends absolutely the wrong message to everyone: That if you have money and influence you can just leave the country and live in luxury in America.

President Arroyo has to decide whether she will continue to be the principled politician she claimed to be in Edsa-II, or if she will become just another flak ready to make any kind of deal in order to stay in power.

***

Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied

The wheels of justice grind much too slowly in the Philippines, especially when it comes to cases such as those of Lacson and the Marcoses.

It is a fact that the nation has not been allowed to heal when ongoing criminal cases linger in the justice system. In the case of Lacson, it seems that the Kuratong Baleleng rubout charges periodically pop up to haunt him. Isn’t there a statute of limitations on such charges, even murder charges? The gang members were killed in 1995, or eight years ago. As for the Marcoses, their plunder crimes took place around 20 years ago. It’s been 17 years since Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown, and still the corruption trials of Imelda Marcos grind on.

The one bright light in all of this was the Supreme Court ruling this week that the $683 million in sequestered Marcos deposits do belong to the nation, which means that the victims of the Marcos regime can now begin to receive 10 billion pesos in compensation from those bank deposits. Congress should swiftly amend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law to allow the payments to the victims, since any recovered money is currently supposed to be used only for agrarian reform.

***

Happy Eid to all of my readers! Due to the Eid vacation, my column won’t appear next week. My next column will appear on Dec. 5.

***

Comments or questions? Email the author at: [email protected].

***

Visit the author’s website at http://www.manilamoods.com to read past columns.