EDITORIAL - No one is above the law

Filipinos watched with envy when South Korea arrested and jailed two of its former presidents a few years ago. It will never happen here, we sighed; in this country, only the small fish get caught. Yesterday, Filipinos watched, almost in disbelief, as 2,000 policemen and Marines surrounded a posh subdivision in San Juan to keep the peace while a warrant was served for the arrest of Joseph Estrada, 13th president of the Republic. After nearly three hours in which Estrada packed and bade goodbye to weeping relatives, friends and househelp, he quietly boarded a black van and was taken on a slow drive to nearby Camp Crame, headquarters of the Philippine National Police.

In yet another ironic twist, Estrada was held in an air-conditioned detention cell at the former headquarters of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, his pet police unit that was recently disbanded amid reports that it had functioned as the biggest criminal syndicate during his administration. Fingerprinted anew, Estrada posed for mug shots and underwent a physical checkup before being taken to his cell.

Even as Estrada cried harassment and maintained his innocence, those images of a former president being arrested will henceforth serve as a powerful reminder to all that in this country, no one is above the law. As Estrada’s political allies try to exploit his arrest and his supporters threaten to sow chaos, the nation should remember how Estrada fell from grace. His estranged friend Luis Singson, a member of his most trusted circle of friends, blew the whistle on corruption in high places in the Estrada administration. Impeachment followed, and several witnesses testified about acts of corruption involving amounts so massive they warranted indictment for the capital offense of plunder.

Estrada’s arrest was ordered by the Sandiganbayan, not by Malacañang. The wheels of justice are turning, the unusually quick pace helped along by numerous witnesses and a paper trail that was poorly concealed. Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin called on the people to face these developments "with clarity of mind and charity of heart." Among Estrada’s political allies, there was one who made sense yesterday: Orlando Mercado called for calm, urging "responsible leaders" to uphold the rule of law. Instead of fomenting irrational actions, all sectors must move quickly to maintain sobriety in the face of these unprecedented events.