Internationalizing Erap's plight

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/9/2005



President Joseph E. Estrada’s case has been dragging for the past five years with clearly no prospect for a just and fair resolution. Witness after witness have presented testimonies and proofs of Estrada complete innocence from the charges leveled by the illegal Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime in the special court of the Sandigangbayan. The Gloria-appointed judges have repeatedly ruled in favor of the prosecution against the legal arguments of the defense while sustaining the most inane motions of the prosecution. The Sandigangbayan is nothing more than a kangaroo court.

The words from the Chairman of the 1987 Philippine Constitutional Convention, former Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court Cecilia Muñoz Palma, in reaction to the 2001 Edsa Dos was portentous: “The 1987 Constitution suffered. This happened when the ongoing impeachment trial of President Estrada was unceremoniously disrupted and discontinued and the issues on hand were brought to the parliament of the streets. The Rule of Law was set aside and the Rule of Force prevailed.” Under the Rule of Force of the Arroyo regime there can be no justice.

The Rule of Force prevails today by those who vanquished the Rule of Law, how then can law prevail? Under the regime of the violators of the Constitution, the corrupt rogues, we are witnessing the country’s precipitate slide into barbarity, the breakdown of law and order; and the regime couldn’t care less. It is by this uncivilized order that they can continue their hold on power and run circles, run roughshod, over the rules of civilized behavior. Behold the growing murderous chaos in our society: 60 Bayan Muna activists killed in cold bold, government perpetrated bombings and strafings to distract from the Garci hearings, police liquidation of car-napping partners, ad nauseum.

President Joseph E. Estrada’s case is the embodiment of the nation’s struggle to regain justice and law in society. If they can abuse the rights of an elected president, what more the ordinary Filipino, the proverbial Juan de la Cruz? The Arroyo regime has had all the powers of government and its police and intelligence forces all the past five years and it could not prove any of the cases against Estrada. Yet, despite dearth of proof of guilt and repeated show of goodwill that Estrada presents no “risk of flight” (like coming back home from knee surgery in Hong Kong), bail could not be granted President Estrada.

President Estrada and the Filipino people can never get justice while the Arroyo regime is in power corrupting every facet of life in the country. It coddles the corrupt like Gen. Carlos Garcia who gets off with a mosquito-bite sentence of two years hard labor with his one-year detention credited as time served. Garcia has been shown to have stolen over P 50-M, actually $ 180-M in deposits and other assets in the U.S., yet his is not a plunder case? Meanwhile President Estrada has languished in one detention place or another for five years now without any proven case of having gained undue benefit from any government fund.

The P 180-M Tobacco Fund Chavit Singson allegedly delivered was debunked by the BSP re-enactment showing its impossibility. The fund is intact in the Muslim Foundation with terms stating that its funds go to the government when the foundation ceases. The second envelope and testimonies of several witnesses including the latest by Equitable PCI bank vice president Romualdo Dy Tang who unks the Jose Velarde issue. Dy Tang also said that House prosecutors Joker Arroyo and Cong. Moreno wanted him to testify that Estrada was Jose Velarde even after he informed them otherwise.

The conspiracy of the Edsa Dos plotters continues to this day. Justice and fair play today can not be assured in any political case before any Philippine court, particularly in the case of President Estrada: the Supreme Court under Gloria itself was part of the conspiracy to depose the elected Estrada. Davide, Panganiban, Puno and the rest of them unanimously voted to “constructively resign” Estrada! This Supreme Court handpicked the “special division” to try Estrada, and decisions of this special division can be appealed only to the Supreme Court.

There is no choice for Filipinos who want justice and fair play, who believe in inviolability of Human Rights, but to bring the case of President Joseph E. Estrada and the people to the attention of the international community and its human rights, legal and judicial institutions such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The case must also be brought before friendly nations which can comprehend the nature of the political oppression in this country as they have experienced themselves, such as Venezuela, Argentina and Peru.

December 10, Sunday, is World Human Rights Day. In commemoration the FREEDOM (Free and Restore Erap Estrada for Democracy and Order Movement) with fraternal groups will stage a picket and petition signing December 9, 10am to 12 noon, for the freedom of President Joseph E. Estrada. The moving picket will be at the RCBC Plaza grounds where Senator Ernesto Maceda, Gov. Edno Joson, Atty. Alan Paguia, Atty. Boy Imperial, and others will then bring the signed petition to be conveyed to UN Sec. Gen. Kofi Anan through the UN resident coordinator Deborah Landey and UNHCR representative Mr. Thamrongsak Meechubot on the 29th Flr.

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