On trial - SKETCHES by Ana Marie Pamintuan

Even in Japan, there was no escaping bad news from the Philippines. Almost every day in my Tokyo hotel, there was news on CNN and the English newspapers about the moves to oust President Erap. There were features on the Philippines alongside the US elections and peace prospects in the Middle East.

A political tsunami is also battering Japan, with Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori barely surviving a move to oust him. President Erap might take some inspiration from that. But Mori’s sins pale in comparison to the offenses filed against President Erap. Also, political turbulence in Japan is as common as earthquakes.

It gave me comfort to hear some Japanese sighing that their system of government is too unstable. When you can change the head of government every year, they told me, you can’t have the continuity needed for reforms and sustained economic growth. And Japan can sure use some relief from a decade-long recession. Its third-quarter GDP growth this year was a tepid 0.2 percent.

I told some Japanese officials about proposals to shift our system of government from presidential to parliamentary, and they said it’s the same in many parts of the globe – we’re never satisfied with what we have.

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Instead of Mori the survivor (so far), President Erap should consider the fate of ousted Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, an ethnic Japanese who left his country’s highest office in disgrace. About two weeks ago, Fujimori moved out of the New Otani Hotel in Tokyo where he stayed after attending the APEC summit in Brunei, into the home of a Japanese writer. The writer told the press that Fujimori was so unprepared for life in exile that he had to borrow warm clothes for the onset of winter. Peruvians are working on the extradition of Fujimori, who reportedly has dual citizenship and may be allowed to stay indefinitely in Japan.

Will President Erap have to borrow clothes one day in a foreign land? Even Fujimori, however, faces corruption charges in his country that are child’s play compared to the accusations hurled against President Erap. The most famous (okay, notorious) head of government to be impeached, US President Bill Clinton, was tried merely for putting his manhood and his cigar in the wrong place at the White House.

There’s no need to summarize the offenses faced by President Erap. We’ve known them, memorized them for the past month, together with all the details about the mansions and mistresses. Details missing from newspapers can be accessed on the Internet and in text messages.

Yet prosecutors still managed to surprise us with something new yesterday. Makati Rep. Joker Arroyo’s revelation about a secret bank account under the name "Jose Valhalla" – purportedly an alias of the President – was said to have jolted lead defense counsel Andres Narvasa, according to the text commandos.

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Even if almost all the charges are known to us, the Senate trial yesterday was a blockbuster. ABS-CBN is reportedly losing P20 million daily for its live coverage of the trial, but the network can’t afford not to provide the coverage. People were glued to their TV sets the whole day.

SkyCable blinked out past noon in some areas, but people turned to radio for the continuation of the coverage. After a long afternoon of speeches, we were still watching. We wondered about the difference between a list and a ledger. We chuckled when prosecutors complained that they didn’t have the defense lawyers’ microphones for better mobility, with Leyte Rep. Sergio Apostol grabbing the mike in front of Yolanda Ricaforte.

After hours of rallies and speeches from anti-Estrada forces, plus five and a half hours of opening statements and introduction of witnesses at the trial, we still weren’t bored. We watched news reruns. We eagerly await Day Two of the trial. This is our country. This is our life.

I’m tempted to lament again: what a mess we’ve made of the country and our life. But seeing how far we’ve gone since Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson blew the whistle on the President, I prefer to look on the bright side. At least it’s the lawyers brawling on the Senate floor. People are fighting with words, documents and prayer rallies, not with guns.

Still, it’s disheartening to be welcomed upon my return from Japan by black propaganda in the mail against Estrada critics. These are ugly times. Watch your back.