GOTCHA, Published in The Philippine Star, Friday, January 4, 2008
That’s what’s wrong with pardoning an unrepentant convict. Let loose, he upsets society. Example is plunderer Joseph Estrada’s release barely three weeks after sentencing. Apart from sending the wrong message that crime pays, Erap has been flouting judicial rule. First, he went around denigrating the guilty verdict. Then, refusing to surrender P3.2 billion ill-gotten wealth, he threatened bloodshed if the court confiscates his many houses. Taunting the very pardon that withheld his civil rights, he voted in October’s barangay election. Now claiming that since he can vote hence he can be voted upon, he is declaring a rerun for President in 2010, scoffing at a constitutional ban.
In a strong Republic, such a menace would be clapped back in prison for parole violation. Not in this administration that so fears Erap it freed him posthaste to appease his fans. All Gloria Arroyo’s aides can do in the face of mockery of law is whimper that the conditional pardon did not restore his right to suffrage. They have kept mum about the parolee’s refusal to abide by the court order to return his payolas from jueteng.
Other presidential pals have been reduced to gently cautioning Erap against rerunning. Arroyo’s poll lawyer Romulo Macalintal said that if Erap insists, then he must know the consequences. One is that his campaign might be hobbled by a case in the Supreme Court. Another is a rush of fair-weather friends to be running mate, so that if he wins but later is declared ineligible, the partner will get to sit as President. Administration Sen. Dick Gordon can only dare Erap to run if only to find out if voters will go for a judged grafter. Not one of Arroyo’s allies has taken legal action to recommit Erap to jail. The administration is shown to be a weakling. Why, it can’t even return rapist Romeo Jalosjos to the national penitentiary in
Erap’s early, hasty pardon teaches that theft of big amounts can buy freedom. Opening the legal system to ridicule, it can encourage lawbreakers to demand the same VIP treatment accorded him. This early we can see murderers like Rolito Go seeking relief although they have not shown remorse by at least recompensing their victims’ families. Arroyo’s aides and allies cannot do anything because under the gun. Any move against Erap or other convicts would only highlight the transactional Presidency.
Polemicists have begun to argue the folly of Erap’s release. If the court fails to recover the P3.2 billion, they say, the ex-con can use it for a creditable campaign. More than that, if Erap can run, so could other past Presidents Cory Aquino and Fidel Ramos. So may Arroyo, if she exploits the same loophole Erap does and, say, resigns one day before her term ends. With the administration’s knack for pushing things to extremes, like false impeachment raps by paid complainants, that just may happen.
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Two contradictory reactions met my piece on state neglect of inventors (“There’s no kickback from science, that’s why”,
From geologist Manuel Diaz: “Our science bureaucracy is overloaded with do-nothing PhDs. Instead of dismissing outright the water-fuelled car invention of Daniel Dingle, those eggheads could have browsed the
From Manny Lim: “It should be worth looking deeper into Honda’s interest in Dingle’s water fuel. After reading and hearing about it, I had my first chance to observe a demonstration three years ago at the PCCI Business Conference exhibit at the Manila Hotel. I left the demonstrator my business card (member of the Philippine Council of Industry and Energy Research and Development), with a suggestion that he communicate with PCIERD. I even followed up with them; nothing happened. I understand that recently DOST Undersecretary Graciano Yumol was again in touch with Dingle, but failed to set an appointment. Makes we wonder about Dingle.
“On grain dryers: four years ago PCIERD awarded the inventor of a gasifier model. I visited Mr. Alkuino’s Jireh Enterprises in Bukidnon and promoted his invention that was already in the
“On Isidro Ursua’s invention to harness energy from waves: It never came up in the PCIERD meetings I have attended since 1992. This doesn’t mean that it was never presented to the Secretariat. Recently we approved a research project related to harnessing tidal energy.
