Erap’s birthday wish for Gloria Arroyo

Last Sunday brought an unexpected gift: the front-page news story about former President “Erap” Estrada’s birthday wish that his predecessor, former President Gloria M. Arroyo, be granted house arrest.

“As a woman, we should give her compassion,” he said. This was his most fervent wish, even topping his other two birthday wishes: for peace in Mindanao, and for the progress of the City of Manila that he now presides over. 

The story was unexpected, but – come to think of it – not really surprising. Beneath Erap’s flamboyant public persona – as those closest to him will attest – beats the heart of a true old-fashioned gentleman, one who was raised to be open-hearted and generous.

I was privileged to be a “fly on the wall” when he went out of his way to visit GMA last year at the same hospital quarters in Veterans that he had occupied a decade earlier. It was a very interesting meeting, full of meaningful moments of silence.

Even earlier, I’m told by his associates, one of Erap’s very first appeals in 2011 to the new Aquino administration was for them to treat Mrs Arroyo with justice and civility. Unfortunately, he was ignored by men (and women) who seem to have been brought up differently from him.

On Thursday, April 23, the first division of the Sandiganbayan will meet to consider GMA’s appeal for house arrest. We can only pray that the honorable justices will hew to higher standards  than the mindless rabble who keep calling for GMA’s head against all notions of justice or civility.  

Arguments for Arroyo

Consider the following arguments that have been advanced by her lawyer, Laurence Hector Arroyo (no relation to her, through no fault of his):

ONE: GMA still has to fully recover from her bone and other illnesses and the debilitating aftermath of three spinal surgeries, the last one lasting eight hours. (See below the X-ray slide of the two metal plates in the spine behind her neck. The bottom one is clearly mis-aligned, pressing against her breathing and eating tubes). 

 

Even the government military doctors at Veterans have recommended that she undergo a more holistic approach in treatment – including family support, emotional stability, and spiritual upliftment – which she cannot receive while confined in a hospital. 

TWO: At her age (68 years) and in her medical condition (today she weighs well under a hundred pounds), she can in no way be considered a flight risk. 

This ailing grandmother does not have the stamina of, say, certain former police generals and senators who turned fugitive and lived on the run, year after year, hiding out both inside and outside the country.

THREE: Because she is not a flight risk, the purpose of detaining her can be served just as well  by keeping her confined to her residence, in the company of her grandchildren.

And what is that purpose? Very simply: to “secure jurisdiction over her person” and make sure that she will always be available to participate in the long process of determining her guilt or innocence in a court of law.

Deemed innocent

At this point, the purpose of detention is not to punish her – for if this were the case, what happens  to the well-known presumption that a person is deemed innocent until proven otherwise in court?

This is a minor detail that invariably escapes the fanatics who claim that GMA already belongs in jail because “everybody knows” – or “it’s so obvious” – or “nobody can deny” – that she’s guilty. If that were the case, then why even bother with putting her on trial?

On the other hand, for those who insist on speculating about her guilt, they ought to look at the evidence – remember that word? – behind the allegation that she plundered PCSO funds. This is the sole remaining case under which bail is being denied to her.

It’s a truism in our country today that those who have less in life, sadly, also have less in law. But it isn’t really because they’re poor. It’s because their poverty makes them powerless. It takes lots of oil – which the poor don’t have – to grease the wheels of justice and make them turn a little faster.

Now consider another scenario for helplessness: 

Any former president will obviously not want for resources. But what can he (or she) really do against a vindictive successor who has made it a personal vendetta as well as a political survival strategy to persecute her, even to the extent of defying a lawful order from the Supreme Court just to keep her behind bars? 

Against the full force of such government power so misused, other people of means – not just this lady – have already discovered their helplessness. What happens when this abuse starts to claim other victims who are much less influential?

No administration – not this one, not anybody else in the future – should be allowed to turn the entire government into his private revenge machine. It is only the courts, in the last instance, that can stem this ruinous tide and restore the meaningful protection of all citizens by the law. – Rappler.com

 

The author served as the economic spokesperson of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.