People’s Power on a national scale - ROSES AND THORNS by Alejandro R. Roces

The Erap-Resign demonstrations that we are witnessing today are actually much more than the People’s Power Revolution that toppled the dictatorial regime of Ferdinand Marcos. The People’s Power Revolution lasted only four days. We have yet to see how long it will take to get President Estrada out of Malacañang. But more important, the People’s Power Revolution took place in EDSA, in the area near Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo. The current show of people’s power is all over the nation and all over Metro Manila. It is on a national scale. The main difference is that the former was directed against a dictatorship; the latter against a duly-elected president. That is why impeachment may be the deciding force that will settle the issue.

Sometime ago, this column maintained that it was not necessary for the Senate to hear all the impeachment charges against President Estrada. If he was found guilty in the first charge, he could be impeached there and then. Now, Makati Rep. Joker Arroyo, a member of the House prosecuting panel, has said the same thing. "If the jurors find enough evidence to convict the President on the first charge, then trying the order charges becomes unnecessary. The President is immediately removed from office. Once removed from office, Mr. Estrada can be criminally charged in court for the remaining three charges."

This is of utmost importance because our real problem is economic. A paper prepared by the Ateneo’s Department of Economics states that our best-case scenario is President Estrada’s immediate voluntary resignation. Our worst-case scenario is an impeachment trial that will drag on till the next millennium. The economy, it emphasized, could collapse by the ninth month.

So, we are still hoping that President Estrada will see the wisdom and goodness of his voluntary resigning from office before his impeachment trial begins. We sincerely believe it is what is best for the country and himself. But to date, that seems improbable. In the meantime, the Christmas season will officially start on Dec. 16 and it goes without saying that there is very little Christmas spirit in the air. Everything is focused on the issue of President Estrada’s voluntary resignation. Unquestionably the rallies will increase, once impeachment proceedings begin. Thank God, to date, all rallies have been peaceful. But we will be experiencing our bleakest Christmas since the Japanese occupation.

Our thoughts, energies and emotions should be channeled to nation-building. But this is obvious that this cannot be done without a change in leadership. No nation in crisis can be led by a heavy-drinker, notorious womanizer and big-time gambler. That is what Cardinal Sin meant when he told President Estrada that he had lost his moral ascendancy to rule. Again, we join the people in asking President Estrada to please resign.