Justice derailed, justice denied

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/17/2007



“A half-truth is a whole lie” - Yiddish Proverb quotes

Basing it arguments on half-truths, using a flimflam witness with his comic strip evidence, and utilizing surmises, inferences, and suspicions, the Sandigangbayan decision on President Joseph E. Estrada faces a critical motion for reconsideration this week; although from all indications it is just “going through the motions” in preparation for the real fight in the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the battle for public opinion continues but threatens to be clouded under the dust and din of the huge Gloria Arroyo scandals – this time the “Cha-cha bribery” caper.

In the battle between Estrada’s quest for justice and the motley anti-Erap elements the past weeks, the latter went into a black propaganda campaign using mainstream media to highlight the half-truth of the Sandiganbayan “conviction”, headlining it repeatedly in locally and internationally. It would certainly leave the impression in some unsophisticated minds that the “conviction” is the end of the process. Then, the GMA regime went into instigating “pardon” and “amnesty” talks attempting to create an impression that Estrada was suing for a compromise and a deal which was actually always eschewed by Estrada.

These anti-Estrada elements know American social philosopher Eric Hoofer’s insight: ““Add a few drops of venom to a half truth and you have an absolute truth”. The anti-Estrada elements ratcheted up the black propaganda with a series of newspaper ads reviving vintage 2000 Pinoy Times anti-Estrada tabloid, complete with demonized images of Estrada on front pages, in the guise of selling them as collector’s items for P 200. I’ve received the feedback from some bookstores: at the La Solidaridad and Popular, bookstores of choice of the intelligentsia, they were pulled out after a day or two because there were no takers; the National bookstores didn’t accept them for their shelves.

The smear ads got were extremely negative ones from several popular radio programs. I also checked reactions of people on these black prop newspaper ads in the Inquirer placed by its retired empress dowager and icon Eggie Apostol and using the FWWPP, Foundation for World Wide People Power (what pretensions!). I asked a senate media veteran who’s worked for several senators over the decade and a half, he said: “Eggie Apostol and some of the Inquirer editors seem to stricken by fear that Gloria will be blamed on them while Estrada is enjoying the sympathy of a growing number of people. Those ugly anti-Estrada ads really smack of oppressiveness and malevolent intentions.”

President Estrada wrote a pained letter complaining to the Inquirer about the smear ads, but the Inquirer issued a disdainful editorial justifying it’s branding of Estrada as “criminal” and buttressing the half-truths from the Sandiganbayan decision. Estrada did not match the newspaper ads campaign to correct the impression it could create, as it turned out this was not necessary as the innate intelligence of the public won out and Eggie Apostol’s smear campaign fell flat. President Estrada’s camp did prepare a simplified, layman’s version of the Motion for Reconsideration - a pressing need, to help the public understand the complex and subtle manner by which the Sandidganbayan trampled on Estrada rights.

The Sandidganbayan decision transgressed the principles of due process, the rights of the accused and the rules of procedure to target President Joseph E. Estrada. The great majority of Filipinos in all public opinion surveys just before the Sandiganbayan handed down its decision believed President Estrada to be innocent and saw Gloria as the bigger issue in terms of corruption and self-enrichment while in office. Thus, the public’s reaction to the Sandiganbayan decision was one of tepidity except for the massive security overkill of Gloria’s security forces. The simplified Motion for Reconsideration was slated for publication as an ad in the newspaper, starting with the Inquirer.

To help reach the general public, the layman-ized Motion for Reconsideration was slated for publication. Then the worse news came back from the Inquirer –publication denied. Although I don’t have the full explanation for the denial, the speculation is that the Inquirer would argue that it is “sub judice” and the ad headline “Justice Denied” would not be acceptable. After the liberties they took branding Estrada “criminal” and the dirty 2/3 page ads of Eggie Apostol they published now they quibble about such petty issues? The layman-ized redition of the Motion for Reconsideration raises four basic issues:

Denial of the right to due process by “ambushing” President Estrada with four separate, independent counts of Plunder when the information against him was for a single crime of “conspiracy” to plunder; denial of right to be informed by the court’s failure to allege “by reason of his public office”; denial of the right to confront witnesses because the witnesses – among others, Chavit Singson is spurious, a prime example of “Falsus in unus falsus in omnibua” (False in one, False in all), with his flimflam “ledgers” – proven false in Jinggoy and Ed Serapio’s cases yet used in Estrada’s!

Finally: denial of presumption of innocence when the court used surmises, inferences and speculation in using testimonies inadmissible under “res inter alios acta” (a thing done between others) rule where Estrada was never a party to their deeds as co-conspirators who were omitted from the charges, leaving President Estrada alone in a “solo-conspiracy”?

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