Soul Highway

We did it to ourselves

In recent days many blog sites have been saturated with commentaries on the conviction of ousted Philippine president Joseph Estrada for plunder. Who could resist writing about the supposed end to the courtroom saga involving a corrupt president and his posh mansions and bevy of mistresses? The former movie actor, who prides himself for garnering the highest number of votes in a presidential election, will go down in the annals of history as the first president of the republic to be convicted of the crime, subsequently sentenced to life in prison. Estrada has fallen from hero of the masses to criminal in the last nine years. However, if you are familiar with Philippine politics, you know that it never runs out of logic-defying antics and surprises.

Soon after Estrada’s conviction, some of our “good” senators unashamedly floated the idea of granting the former leader presidential pardon for the country to “move forward.” Estrada is willing to accept - take note of the word accept - the pardon, but with a stipulation that it not be misconstrued as admission of guilt. Noted columnist Amando Dornonila said it best when he wrote: “For the first time in the history of criminal jurisprudence in this country, a convict is laying down the terms of the execution of his sentence. This makes the public curious over who won or lost in the plunder case.” Will the Arroyo administration give in to Estrada’s caprices once again? Your guess is as good as mine.

Estrada is truly a symbol of the Filipino voters’ folly. He represents our excesses, recklessness, dishonesty, low regard for public service and lack of self-respect as a people. When I think of Estrada I am reminded of an anniversary dinner party hosted by the newspaper I was once affiliated with and where the former president was guest of honor. Estrada does not make secret of his weaknesses and so the highlight of that night’s carte du jour was a lechon de leche (roast suckling pig) that was wheeled in amid a round of applause.

Estrada is certainly not the first high ranking government official to steal from the public coffers or the first to get caught. He, however, personifies the very reason why the country continues to be the “sick man of Asia" today. It is safe to say that the economy will collapse without the billions of dollars in remittances coming from overseas workers and migrants. Our biggest resource right now is the thousands of Filipinos who are leaving the country on a daily basis in search for greener pastures, oftentimes overlooking the dangers that await them at their destinations. We are a picture of hopelessness. Corruption is not only endemic but systemic and yet we keep on voting people who have nothing to offer but popular last names and money to buy votes during elections. As a people, we collectively suffer from memory failure and the predisposition to slip into mob rule when the wrong decisions we make at the polls come back to haunt us.