ERAP : GUILTY OF PLUNDER case

ERAP PARA SA MAHIRAP (his popular slogan) was convicted not guilty of Perjury but Guilty of Plunder. Life imprisonment equivalent to 20-40 years of imprisonment. Today is a big day for both Erap Supporters and anti-Eraps a.ka. Pro-Gloria mostly. I am in the office right now listening to Korina Sanchez on the Radio on news for updates on the decisions, feedbacks and replay of the said conviction. It has been around 6 years already since Former President Erap Estrada started waiting inside his cell for this Judgement day and today, tears are welling up in his eyes and flowing from the eyes of his family.

Senator Miriam Santiago said President Arroyo can issue a pardon right after conviction if she wants or Erap can pay atleast 3 more years before he can plea for bail on good behavior- something like that kind of pardon. Or they can file for a Motion for Reconsideration which can probably drag the case further until 2010, which the lawyers of Erap said will probably be formally filed before the 27th of September this year. But Senator Miriam Santiago stressed that since the verdict was unanimous beyond reasonable doubt, filing it would be useless.

I dont know if I am pro-Erap or not, but i cant say Im happy with the results of the verdict. Mixed emotions. If he is guilty which the court said he was, it is only just that he be responsible for his crime, but it just doesnt feel completely right. Although the peso-dollar rate reacted positively due to this verdict.

Anyway they allowed Erap Estrada to not be transported to Muntinlupa immediately, He can still go back to Tanay, Rizal first. He is at present still in the courtroom, which they temporarily made the holding area for the former President.

Former President Erap Estrada quoted "I subjected myself to this court and against the advice of my friends" something like that- hinting a slight regret over the action he has decided to take during that first box when he could have just fled the country or did something else other than submit himself to public degradation and imprisonment only to find himself in injustice in the end.

Admittedly,I was among the people who mocked Erap's intellectual capacity when jokes about him were very much popular. I can still remember one of my favorite jokes:

Erap: Ang galing ko talaga

Pinoy: bakit po?

Erap: Itong Puzzle nabuo ko at natapos ko for only 3 months!

Pinoy: ah ganun ba?

Erap: Eh eto o nakalagay sa box "FOR 3YRS and above"

It is not so amusing now.

It is only now that I realized that Erap is not a joke.

and that almost everyone in the government is corrupt one way or another, it is just a matter of when they catch you if they catch you.

But it doesnt mean they are entirely evil or that they are not entirely evil.

Cleanliness, Purity and Morality is rare and most blurred especially when accompanied with Power.