Unfathomable Arroyo

There is something unfathomable in the way Philippine president Gloria Arroyo thinks. Worse, the consequences of her unfathomable ways are often unpopular and devoid of perceptible benefits that could, otherwise, have tempered the effects of their unwantedness.

Take the case of the executive clemency she granted Claudio Teehankee Jr., the convicted murderer of then 16-year-old Maureen Hultman and John Roland Chapman in 1991. The only fault of the victims was to run into Teehankee at apparently the wrong time.

Hultman, Chapman and another male friend were returning from a party early one morning when they were accosted by Teehankee in one of the enclaves for the rich that dot Metro Manila suburbs.

When Chapman asked why they were being accosted, Teehankee drew out a gun and shot him. When Chapman protested his shooting, Teehankee fired again to silence him. As Hultman and the other guy begged for their lives, Teehankee shot the girl dead. The other guy managed to flee.

What happened was cold blooded murder if there was one. The senselessness of the killing remains to this day because Teehankee, after serving only 14 years of his life imprisonment, has never spoken a word about what caused him to go berserk.

The twin murders committed by Teehankee were probably the only blemishes, undeserved at that, that ever sullied the reputation of his father, the illustrious former chief justice with the same name.

The release of Teehankee from prison was ostensibly in recognition of his good behavior, or so went the official line underscoring the executive clemency. But if it was truly for good conduct in prison, the circumstances surrounding his release were perplexing as they were.

For one, there was no advance word of his impending release, strange for somebody who was being freed on recognizance for good behavior. And when he was allowed to step out of prison a free man, the doors swung open at close to midnight, or literally in the dead of night.

Some alert citizens quickly asked whether the release of Teehankee at that time was to allow him to leave in the same atmosphere as when he did his dastardly acts — in the cold and quiet of midnight.

Just as the Filipino nation will probably never get to really know why Teehankee went on his murderous binge, so too will they never learn why, of all people, President Arroyo would choose to pardon such a controversial person.

But just as Filipinos never got to understand why Arroyo had to grant ousted president Joseph Estrada his pardon following conviction of plunder, so will they never get to understand the preference of Arroyo to give special treatment to people who ought to be rotting in prison.

And because no clear logic or sensible reasoning can attach to Arroyo regarding her unfathomable acts, she consequently suffers the negative impact of her actions. On the other hand, it is hard to believe she is unwary or unprepared for any of the fallout.

In other words, there must be something going on here that has been crafted so well behind the ordinary ken of most people, something that Arroyo has already long considered and determined to be an acceptable risk.

So, it is either Arroyo is a true genius who has already played out the game in her mind and known how everything is going to end, or she is one remarkably charmed person whose luck just inexplicably continues to hold.