Just because he’s managed to fool a bunch of idiots to vote for him again, he thinks he can twist, twirl and convolute history as he pleases. The nerve. He has the gall to compare himself to Nelson Mandela, Anwar Ibrahim, Aung San Suu Kyi and Ninoy Aquino. Visit: Erap Takes Oath…
“This is another historic milestone for the city of Manila. For the first time, Manila will have an ex-convict as your city mayor,” Estrada told a crowd that included Vice President Jejomar Binay, family, political allies, former Cabinet members, and Manila city hall employees.“Kung ako man ay ex-convict ito ay dahil sa aking prinsipyo. (If I were convicted, it was out of principle.) I feel that I am in good company with Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, and our own Sen Ninoy Aquino who was also convicted by a military court.”“We were all convicted that is why we are now all men of conviction,” Estrada quipped.
Like Erap, each of these individuals were indeed imprisoned but the comparison ends right there. Unlike Erap, they devoted most of their lives to fight oppression. Erap only claims to fight poverty. In fact, his life represents the most deceitful exploitation of poverty, encapsulated in his slogan “Erap para sa mahirap” and memorialized (for all the generations of Filipinos to remember) by the Sandiganbayan’s (a) verdict of “guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of plunder” and (b) corresponding sentence of reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment.
A first in Philippine history even if it should have been a death penalty—if not for the inappropriate political machinations of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that abolished capital punishment in the Philippines. And as if that was not enough to cheat the people of the justice they deserved, the little lady proceeded to abuse her power of executive clemency by pardoning the scoundrel, just because she couldn’t stand the heat of her own unpopularity. As an unduly elected president, she had no right to initiate the abolition of capital punishment and/or to pardon Erap. All the same, Erap’s brazenness is only matched by his stupidity (i.e., unlike other corrupt presidents, Erap was caught and convicted) and good fortune.
The fact is, Erap should not even be in our midst. If the wheels of justice worked properly in this country, Erap should have been executed many years ago and his lewd presidency should have served as a prime lesson against corruption in government. Instead, he is an unrepentant and arrogant criminal who has “gotten away with it” and he shamelessly continues to pervert public office, our history and the values of our nation. Erap alive is a failure of government and a travesty of justice. Erap executed by any means is the right of every decent Filipino.
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