Limbo

This is what should have happened after EDSA II: Joseph Estrada, ousted from the presidency on charges of massive corruption, should have been formally indicted, arrested, held without bail and given his day in court.

So far, so good: we managed to do all that despite the EDSA III riots. But everything went awry after that.

Being a special defendant, Erap’s trial should have been swift – a showcase of the majesty of the law in the land of people power, and proof of a nation’s resolve to stamp out corruption.

Within a year or two, a verdict should have been reached. Why should American servicemen indicted for crimes committed while on duty in the Philippines be the only ones to enjoy the privilege of a one-year trial?

If acquitted, Erap would not have regained the presidency – possession is nine-tenths of the law at Malacañang – but he could have made a strong comeback in either politics or entertainment or both.

If convicted – which seemed likely at the start of this trial, given the damning testimonies of Chavit Singson and Clarissa Ocampo – Erap could have invoked time spent in detention and applied for pardon.

No president – least of all the person who replaced Erap after EDSA Dos – can turn down such a request without appearing heartless among Pinoy who behave like crabs when you’re on top but have a soft heart when you’re downtrodden.

There would be a great deal of fanfare about national reconciliation when the pardon is announced. And we would be treated to the usual hypocritical public exchange of pleasantries between the pardoned and the one who gave it.

But once the fanfare is over, we would be assured that justice has been served and painful lessons imparted. With forgiveness, no matter how reluctantly given, national reconciliation may even be possible.

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Instead Erap is still in legal limbo, talking to his ducks and pelicans, completing his own mausoleum and expanding his fishpond, penalized with the uniquely Pinoy "resthouse arrest" for a crime that has not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

Six years ago on Jan. 20, Erap boarded a barge to cross the Pasig from his official residence at Malacañang, waving goodbye to the handful of individuals who saw him off.

That gesture, broadcast around the globe, would form part of his "constructive resignation" – a doctrine that is now part of Philippine jurisprudence.

The Supreme Court associate justice who came up with that doctrine has just finished his yearlong tenure as chief justice. The chief justice at the time, who swore in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as President, is now rushing to New York to assume the post of Philippine representative to the United Nations, without waiting for confirmation from the Commission on Appointments.

Erap, refusing to succumb to depression, has been busy putting together a slate that he hopes will place the opposition firmly in control of the Senate.

He remains a formidable political force, putting both his wife and son in the Senate. His support is sought by people from both sides of the political fence.

President Arroyo’s chief of staff Michael Defensor, who is leaving the Cabinet to run for the Senate, wants to make Erap’s release on recognizance his campaign platform. How much of this loopy idea is the President’s own, we can’t be sure. So far streetwise Erap isn’t biting, aware that he’s simply being used, although his lawyers have filed a motion with the Sandiganbayan in hopes that the anti-graft court would listen to Defensor.

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Erap’s camp has grumbled that this administration born of people power will never be stable enough to risk any verdict on his plunder case.

If acquitted, it would prove Erap’s claim that he was unjustly ousted and the Arroyo presidency is illegitimate. What would that make then of all the official acts of this administration over the past six years? It’s a recipe for chaos.

If convicted, Erap’s disgruntled supporters would create endless trouble for the administration. Or at least that’s what his camp likes to believe.

And so he is left in limbo, allowed to go abroad for treatment and to visit his mom on special occasions, and allowed to enjoy all the comforts of his resthouse arrest.

Our failure to deal decisively with the person we thought was the biggest fish of all in a sea of corruption has also placed our anti-graft campaign and justice system in limbo.

The trial of Joseph Estrada has become a showcase indeed – not of our resolve to stamp out corruption, but of the weakness of our justice system and all the roadblocks in our efforts to stamp our graft.

Everything is always easier in hindsight. The administration born of people power had many other concerns to deal with in the past six years, and a number of those concerns were serious national problems.

Erap, who won the presidency by the largest margin ever in the history of our republic, was a poster boy for excess. Power corrupts, and Erap was a perfect example of that, second only to Ferdinand Marcos among the country’s presidents.

Even Filipinos with people power fatigue still feel that EDSA Dos was justified whenever they recall those days of excess under Erap. And they feel grateful that Justice Artemio Panganiban came up with "constructive resignation" to uphold the regime change and prevent the country from being turned into gangsters’ paradise by the Petrus bunch.

The legitimacy of the Arroyo administration has been upheld by the Supreme Court. There is no way Erap can regain the presidency. By tomorrow Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would be in power for six years – the limit set by the Constitution for a single-term presidency without extension – and she has three more years.

Erap has been held without bail for all but four months of those six years.

Prosecutors insist that they have a strong case against him. If this is true, the nation should not be made to wait longer for a guilty verdict.

If the strong case is presented clearly to the public, it would blunt any potential protests.

The longer Erap’s trial drags on, the bigger his reason to cry injustice. And injustice is not what people power was supposed to be about. Joseph Estrada is a constant reminder of the many things that have gone wrong in this country since EDSA II.