For Gold and Country
PerryScope
By Perry Diaz
September 25, 2007
For the first time, a former president was brought to trial and successfully prosecuted for
plundering the land that he was sworn to protect and to serve. And for the first time also, the
anti-graft court Sandiganbayan -- which had been sterile since its inception in the aftermath of
the People Power that toppled the Marcos dictatorship in 1986 -- has finally risen out of its
moribund existence and showed the whole world that it has the gumption to prosecute and
convict former President Joseph Estrada.
Notwithstanding claims that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had pressured the
Sandiganbayan to sentence Estrada to life imprisonment for plunder, a precedent has been
set paving the way for the prosecution of erring presidents in the future… including Arroyo
herself. From now on, it's a different ballgame -- it's hardball.
The "guilty" verdict against Estrada gave Arroyo what she had been looking for to put a
semblance of "legitimacy" on her ascendancy to the presidency when Estrada was removed
from office in 2001. But the verdict was a double bladed dagger. What has happened to
Estrada today could also happen to Arroyo tomorrow.
It is interesting to note that in 1996 South Korea sentenced former President Chun Doo Hwan
to death for mutiny, treason and corruption. His successor, Roh Tae Woo, was sentenced to
22 years in prison. Ironically, the two former presidents were credited for turning South Korea
into a "Newly Industrialized Country" -- a tiger economy -- in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Within a year, President Kim Young-sam's son, Kim Hyun-chul, was found guilty of accepting
bribery and tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
Recently, Jose "Joey" de Venecia III, son of Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. and whose company
submitted a bid for the National Broadband Network (NBN) project, testified in the Senate that
the First Gentleman, Mike Arroyo, "played a role" in awarding the $329 million contract to
China-based ZTE. He also implicated COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos for "brokering" the
deal. De Venecia also claimed that the ZTE contract was $130 million overpriced. As a result of
De Venecia's expose' the Senate opened an investigation on the controversial deal.
Recently, I conducted a survey in the Internet on the issue: "Does the Philippines need a
broadband network?" The response was overwhelmingly in favor of installing a broadband
network to bring the country into the 21st century. However, there is also an overwhelming
consensus that the ZTE contract was overpriced and should be scrapped.
The allegation that the First Gentleman is involved in the anomalous ZTE deal could be
damaging to President Arroyo who has been trying very hard to distance herself from a
multitude of scams and scandals such as the Joc-Joc Bolante fertilizer scam, the PIATCO-NAIA-
3 scandal, Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard overpricing scandal, the "Hello Garci" election
cheating scandal, the Nani Perez-IMPSA bribery scandal, the Jose Pidal scandal, the COMELEC
computerization scandal, and others. Certainly, the Estrada supporters and the opposition
would capitalize on these scandals to exact vengeance on La Gloria. She probably realizes by
now that there is a Damoclean sword precariously hanging over her head.
The other day, I was asked what I thought about the guilty conviction of Estrada? Considering
that it took six years to go through the costly rigmarole of prosecuting him, I responded
tongue-in-cheek: "All presidents should be deemed guilty until proven innocent." This may not
be applicable in our democratic society; however, in the court of public opinion, a lot of our
past presidents have already been found "guilty" of corruption.
In times past, great leaders emerged to lead their people for "God and country." The
Crusaders battled the Muslims for a couple of centuries for "God and country" and the Muslims
to this day have been battling the infidels for "Allah and country." In World War II, General
Tomoyuki Yamashita -- the "Tiger of Malaya" -- plundered Asia in the name of his deified
"Emperor and country." And in Northern Ireland, Catholics and Protestants have been battling
each other for the same "God and country." But in the Philippines, it's different scenario:
politicians ran for office for "gold and country" -- more for gold and less for country.
Estrada prided himself as the hero of the masses and used "Erap Para sa Mahirap" (Erap for
the Poor) as his campaign slogan when he ran for president in 1998. The masses loved and
idolized him but when he was convicted by the Sandiganbayan, the masses quietly -- and
uncaringly -- went about their daily routine of eking out a living. Indeed, their own survival
was more important than their idol's future. It must have been a rude awakening for Estrada
to realize that his followers have forsaken him when he needed them most.
In the final analysis, a precedent had been set that no politician -- not even the President --is
immune from prosecution. It's time that we hold our public officials accountable for their
misdeeds and pay the price for betraying the trust given to them by the people.
In December 2005, I wrote an article titled "Rx for Poverty and Corruption" in which I said,
"What is needed is a sustained effort to prosecute corrupt officials -- ruthlessly, expeditiously,
and judiciously. Ruthlessly it must -- take no prisoners. Expeditiously it must -- justice delayed
is justice denied. And judiciously it must -- the court must be free of interference, from within
and without. It should be incorruptible and 'untouchable'."
I hope that the Estrada conviction is the turning point in the war against corruption and
poverty. It couldn't have been more timely amidst the recent scandals involving high-level
people in government as well as those in the private sector. This would give President Arroyo
an opportunity to clean up her government and deal with the anomalies that have tainted her
and people close to her. At the end of the day, she will be judged not on how she may have
turned the economy around but on what she has done to eradicate corruption and poverty.
And right now, she has done nothing.
(PerryDiaz@gmail. com)
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