Angelhouser | A Journal By Angelica Bautista Viloria

Sunday, October 28, 2007

I Beg Your Pardon

Erap is now a free man. Do you agree with his being pardoned? I don't know about you but I feel kind of ambivalent about the whole thing. There's the side that thinks about forgiveness and there's the side that is resigned to the fact that people can do almost about anything in our country, the Philippines, and get away with it.

You can never really believe anything that you hear or read in this country. Just a few months ago, Erap's camp was talking about never asking GMA for pardon. There was even a statement that Erap was ready to go over to Muntinlupa if necessary.

Just a few days ago though, we have Erap thanking GMA for pardoning him. I guess the fact that his mother is very sick had much to do with the way things went.

Expectedly, various groups in the country look at the pardon differently. The Erap supporters, of course, are happy. The militant groups, as always, are up in arms. Do you think GMA pardoned Erap so that when the time comes and if ever she is put in the same situation, the leader that comes after her will also be as forgiving?

Oh well. Life goes on. If Erap is free and he has not acknowledged that he has done anything wrong, what is there to pardon? If there is nothing to pardon then should GMA still be in Malacanang?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

if we can pardon a guilty person caused by greed, then i guess it shouldn't be hard for us to pardon those who committed a crime caused by poverty.

it goes to show that status and wealth can buy anything even freedom.

Angelica Viloria said...

Hi Evi,

Thanks for always dropping by. It is true that the poor and the powerful are not equal when it comes to the law.