The Black and White Movement adds its voice to mounting opposition against Malacanang's intention to grant former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada unconditional pardon.
Why the gratuitous haste?
We believe this is a political ploy intended to shift the focus of public debate away from the ZTE scandal and palace payoffs towards this potentially divisive issue. It comes at a time when GMA herself is embroiled in accusations of corruption. It reveals this administration’s nonchalant and tolerant attitude towards graft and corruption. It is no wonder that bribery on a grand scale can be allegedly committed with brazen impunity in Malacanan Palace, the proverbial hearth of government.
The bishops were right – we have a morally bankrupt leadership.
Furthermore, we are particularly incensed about the idea of granting Erap an unconditional pardon because this concession will restore his full civil and political rights, allow him to retain the properties and monies he claims are not even his, without public admission of guilt. An unconditional pardon effectively sets aside the Sandiganbayan’s conviction of the former president. The hard work put into six years of litigation by both parties was all for naught.
This irreverent compromise sends the wrong message to our people, “It’s all right to plunder, as long as you can cut a deal with those in power.”
At a time when we can finally celebrate an achievement that proves our justice system works, that our judiciary can exact accountability from the highest official of the land, this single act will irreparably retard the people’s trust in our system.
We are not against pardon per se, especially if it is granted for humanitarian reasons. What we oppose is the timing and the motives behind it. Given the circumstances attending this planned unconditional pardon, the Black and White Movement says, “Hindi pa tamang panahon.” - END
11 comments:
Ang napipintong pag-pardon kay Erap ay isang pagpapakita sa pagiging desperado ng administrasyon. Dahil halatang wala itong makukuhang suporta mula sa lumalaking daluyong ng mga masa, minabuti nitong makipagalyansa sa mandarambong na si Erap. Halatang walang pinagkaiba ang mandarayang si Gloria at ang kawatan na si Erap. Patunay lamang ito na hindi si Erap ang oposisyon. Ang laban sa kasalukuyan ay sa pagitan ng mga elitistang mga magnanakaw sa pamumuno ni gloria at ang kanyang mga kaalyadong panginoong maylupa at si Erap at ang kanyang mga kapwa jueteng lords.
Magdasal na si Gloria at si Erap dahil alam na ng taumbayan ang kanilang panguuto sa taumbayan. Ang inutil na oposisyon ay hindi solusyon. Wala silang pinagkaiba sa Administrasyon at sa mga Gobernador na kawatan na kaalyado ni Gloria. Halatang halata na ang kanlang alyansa.
Panahon nang baguhin ang inutil, tanga, at pekeng elitistang demokrasya.
Rebolusyon hindi Cha-cha ng elitista!
Demokrasya hindi pekeng halalan!
What a waste of six years. Let Erap face the music. Matapang siya di ba? I did not help oust him just so he can be set free. GMA is definitely afraid of what she will face very soon.
Its time to up the ante and show this administration they have gone too far and we've ran out of patience.
The moment Erap finally admitted GMA's "authority" as president, thereby legitimizing her in his eyes, in order to beg for an unconditional pardon, he sold his soul to her. For what, we can only imagine. This transactional politics in aid of survival has to stop. Now both of them are on the same side against all the rest of us.
Their reconciliation made it easier to unite...against what is now a common enemy
edsa dos was gma's greatest victory, this is just erap admitting it. but he seems to be well ahead of some who are just as clueless six years later as they were on 20 january 2001.
I found a nice ribbon that we can probably use.
It's in this link: Black Ribbon at Philippine Updates
I was in EDSA 2, & I am so maaaaad at that pardon of Erap ! That mother f*cker in Malacanang will screw anything & anyone to stay in power ! The only word I can come up with, worse than “Political Prostitute”, is “Gloria” !
Nice ribbon, JC Smith. We truly are in mourning. Will post a new statement in a few minutes.
Chabeli, I'm as mad and hurt as you are. But we need to hold ourselves together because umiiba uli ang ihip ng hangin. Like what we did then, we have to turn our anger into positive action. Don't know how long it'll take, but the momentum is growing.
Thanks, Helga. I shall heed your advice. My earlier comments was an impulsive reaction..
I will wait for the momentum to accelerate. In the meantime, I'll just have to chill.
Huwag naman chill, Chabeli. Simmer! :->
What a bunch of hypocrites this anti-ERAP "civil society" is! These same anti-ERAP forces have the gall to speak of the Rule of Law and the Constitution when it was they who had dumped the Rule of Law and Constitution when they mounted a coup d 'etat against then sitting President Joseph Estrada.
They didn't bother about the rules, nor respected the empeachment process, nor the Rule of Law, embracing instead mob rule of force.
And yet now, with the absolute pardon granted to Estrada, they scream that pardon should not have been granted; that this was too hasty; that he must admit his guilt, that he must make an act of restitution and spend more time to rot in jail before any pardon is to be considered.
Yet what about their own sin committed against the Filipino people when they, comprising the elite, broke the highest law in the land by taking the law and the Consitution into their own hands.
These sanctimonious hypocrites certainly knew, when they ousted Estrada and moved to charge him with plunder that he would not get justice from the courts, given the fact, that the highest court in the land, with all its justices led by then Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., participated in the coup, swearing Gloria in, despite there not being vacancy in the presidency.
This was why they had to invent the "constructive resignation" doctrine against Estrada, as their justification of their unconstitutional act.
Then came the creation of a special court to exclusively try Estrada and it was evident that the court existed to convict him.
Even when the prosecution failed to prove charges, and the court records will bear this out, Estrada was convicted anyway.
And now, they continue to protest the pardon of Estrada?
For four years running, even as the elite knew about the cheating, lying and stealing ways of Gloria Arroyo, they never denounced her. It is fact that in 2004, they already knew that massive cheating was ongoing and yet they - including the bishops - supported that electoral cheating, justifying this as a better way to ensure that Fernando Poe Jr., also a movie actor, would not sit in Malacanang.
Yet they dare to project themselves as righteous and followers of the Rule Of Law, these sanctimonous shit?
You have people such as Luis Chavit Singson, a demonstrable corrupt provincial governor who has stolen from the provincial coffers and who has not even been made to account for his many crimes - including plunder charges filed at the Sandiganbayan, which charges are outside of the realm of the plunder charges against Estrada, demanding an admission of guilt and restitution, along with a longer stay in jail when he has gotten away scot free using perjured testimony.
And you have people like Leonard De Vera, who was upbraided by the US court and forbidden to practice Law for having kept for himself, money that was owned by his client, and also suspended by the Philippine Supreme Court from practicing Law, having the nerve to protest a pardon for Estrada.
And then there is that sanctimonious Black and White Movement also protesting the pardon of Estrada, yet there the BnW people wew, pushing their candidate's inclusion in the ERAP senatorial ticket. They call for a show of outrage, as though they have the masses to support their call. They don't even have supporters to call on.
HYPOCRITES ALL THEY ARE!
And the left? They support a convicted Joma Sison, who is alleged to have committed many murders, and cry for him not to be jailed. They who were amnestied and yet oppose the Estrada pardon, whom they know they wronged in 2000, call for justice?
As former President Fidel Ramos, who made his opposition to the pardon public, he also had the gumption to demand and admission of guilt and for him not to make any conditions, even saying the grant of pardon is too hasty.
Ramos is full of manure. He certainly still has to pay for his many sins against the Filipino people. Think of the many Sovereign guarantees he signed to overpriced power generators that weren't even used; the kickbacks and the many scams he engaged in during his term in Malacanang. He should be made to account for all his crimes, not to mention the crime against the Consitution when he and Gloria mounted the coup they tried to pass off as democracy.
Did not Ramos give the coup plotters then in 1986, just push ups as a punishment? Did he not insist on their amnesty? And now he opposes pardon for Estrada and all because he fears an Estrada comeback?
YOU ARE ALL HYPOCRITES!
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