EDITORIAL – Waiting for reforms

Two years ago this month a battalion of cops and soldiers fetched a deposed president and his son from their home in San Juan, placing them under arrest for the capital offense of plunder. The unprecedented arrest, incarceration and trial of Joseph Estrada and his son Jinggoy, the former mayor of San Juan, was a landmark in the nation’s campaign against corruption. These days, how-ever, the principal lesson that seems to have been learned from Estrada’s ignominious fall is that if you’re going to engage in graft, you better not get caught.

EDSA II was all about public frustration over perceptions of widespread corruption all the way up to the highest levels of government. While Estrada and his son were arrested on orders of the Sandiganbayan, the process was seen as a manifestation of the new administration’s political will to stamp out graft at the risk of great social unrest. There was reason for the public to hope for progress in the fight against corruption.

Instead the administration very quickly found itself embroiled in corruption scandals of its own, implicating people known to be close to President Arroyo herself. In the bureaucracy complaints persisted about red tape, kickbacks, bribery and financial mismanagement. The Cabinet member perceived by many to be closest to the Pre-sident was forced to quit amid allegations of a $2-million payoff. Vehicle smuggling is back at the Bureau of Customs. There have been complaints against smuggling even of vegetables.

Meanwhile, people have all but forgotten Estrada. There was a brief reminder of his existence when Jinggoy was freed on bail a few weeks ago. Estrada supporters are expected to stage mass actions for him tomorrow, the second anniversary of the failed attempt to kick his successor out of Malacañang, but no one expects a repeat of that massive gathering two years ago. The prosecution has finally rested its case against Estrada in the plunder complaint, but two years is still a long wait for someone professing innocence who is held without bail for a capital offense. Like the campaign against corruption, little has been done to speed up the administration of justice since EDSA II.

As Estrada’s plunder trial enters its third year, the administration should consider where it has failed public expectations. There is still time to meet some of these expectations. At the very least, the administration should lay the groundwork for long-term reforms.