Pardon or No and Why?...Erap

[NightWinger]

No Pardon! At Sana tuloy tuloy na to, Dapat matakot lang yun iba dyan. At sana ibalik ang death penalty! Para once na guilty patayin agad!

[Galactus]

Kapal ng mukha ni Erap! Di lang pardon, kundi absolute pardon pa gusto. Parang take it or leave it ang dating. Kung ako lang masusunod, I'll call his bluff.

After 2010, dapat magsama-sama sila nina Fat Bast*rd, Abalos, Pandak, tsaka Anak ni Pandak. Pare-pareho naman silang kawatan.

[Monseratto]

Gusto ata ni pandak na aminin ni Erap at ni Junggoy na siya ang "legitimate" President of the Republic para matanggap yung "Presidential" pardon...

[Syuryuken]

After 2010, dapat magsama-sama sila nina Fat Bast*rd, Abalos, Pandak, tsaka Anak ni Pandak. Pare-pareho naman silang kawatan.

Hindi ba pwedeng isama si SiRaulo Gonzales??

[explorer]

from: http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquirer...ticle_id=90458

Pardon for plunderer?

Inquirer EDITORIAL
Last updated 00:21am (Mla time) 09/25/2007

IT'S ONLY in the Philippines where a person convicted of a crime sets the condition for his pardon, instead of the chief executive, representing the government, setting the condition. We are seeing it in the case of disgraced former President Joseph Estrada, who said he would accept executive clemency only if it comes in the form of an absolute pardon. An absolute pardon releases the wrongdoer from punishment and restores the offender's civil rights without qualification.

We cannot understand the hurry in wanting to grant pardon or amnesty to Estrada who was convicted of plunder less than two weeks ago, after a six-year trial marked by delaying tactics by the defense. Presidential aspirants and legislative and executive officials are falling all over themselves proposing pardon or amnesty for Estrada to promote, they say, the cause of national reconciliation, peacemaking and national reunification. What about the cause of the rule of law, justice, and crime and punishment? What about the cause of retribution for the highest official of the land found guilty of betrayal of the public trust? Does anyone give a hoot about these things?

Estrada's insistence on an absolute pardon shows that he does not believe he is guilty of the crime charged. The 212-page decision of the Sandiganbayan very clearly showed that he committed plunder by amassing P545 million from illegal gambling payoffs and a P189-million commission from stock market purchases using the SSS and GSIS funds. And yet he would have all these offenses wiped out from the record, and make it appear that he did not commit any crime against the people whose interest and welfare he was supposed to promote and protect as president.

Political expediency--that seems to be the paramount interest now. The government, judging from the statements and actions of the highest officials, would serve full pardon to Estrada on a silver platter to promote reconciliation and unity and stave off any move to destabilize the presidency. It is ironic that the latest statements regarding the grant of pardon to Estrada were made this month, the Rule of Law Month. The thinking of those who cry for pardon for Estrada seems to be: Justice and the rule of law be damned!

Estrada and his lawyers have chosen to follow the legal process, and have filed a motion for reconsideration before the Sandiganbayan. If the anti-graft court denies his motion, they can elevate the case to the Supreme Court. It would be best if they just continued on their present course. If, as they contend, Estrada is not guilty, then there is the possibility that the conviction could be reversed in the high court. Or, if it affirms the verdict, then we would have a final conviction that is a condition for the grant of a pardon. Estrada went through a six-year trial, no thanks to the delaying tactics of his lawyers. He can wait two or three more years while the wheels of justice continue to grind.

Even assuming that the appeals process is discontinued, which would mean that the conviction by the Sandiganbayan is a final conviction, making Estrada eligible for pardon, three or four months after the verdict is too short a waiting period for pardon to be granted. A short period indicates an almost indecent haste to mollify a person who has done a grievous wrong to his people.

In South Korea, former military dictators Chun Doo-hwan and Roh ***-woo were pardoned in 1987 after spending two years in prison. Chun had been sentenced to life imprisonment and Roh to 17 years for their roles in the 1979 military coup that brought Chun to power, for the massacre of the pro-democracy protesters in Kwangju in 1980 and for the collection of millions of dollars in bribes from businessmen. A pardon after two years in South Korea, but here in the Philippines a pardon after only three or four months!

The culture of impunity is becoming embedded in the national psyche and national life. One can commit anything--extrajudicial killing, massive graft, plunder, etc.--and go scotfree, free to continue committing other crimes, provided one has influence, political clout and money. A pardon for Estrada will only promote the cause of impunity and encourage other high-ranking government officials to commit graft in the expectation that if prosecuted and found guilty later, they can always obtain a pardon. Is this the message we want to give to government officials and employees who are now supposedly engaged in an anti-graft campaign? Is this the example that we want to show to our generation and future generations?

[explorer]

from: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquire...ticle_id=90456

ABSOLUTE PARDON PLAN
Puno: Estrada could get to keep P1B of ill-gotten assets

By Dona Pazzibugan, Jocelyn Uy
Inquirer
Last updated 11:53pm (Mla time) 09/24/2007

AN ABSOLUTE pardon means the government will no longer confiscate P1 billion in ill-gained assets that deposed President Joseph Estrada had allegedly acquired and that the Sandiganbayan wants forfeited in favor of the state.

This was how Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno interpreted the proposed unconditional pardon that he and Estrada are expected to discuss when they meet over lunch Tuesday at the latter's rest house in Tanay, Rizal.

The alleged ill-gotten assets would include the notorious "Boracay Mansion" in Quezon City.

The Tanay meeting between Estrada and his own former interior secretary is taking place amid sharp opposition from some legal luminaries, who said an unconditional pardon would be blow to the justice system.

Some said Estrada should be given an absolute pardon only if he expresses remorse for his sins and surrenders his supposedly ill-gotten assets.

"Absolute pardon is absolute pardon. I think the penalties are vacated," Puno said when asked about the Sandiganbayan's forfeiture order on Estrada's assets.

"I do not know ha? I'm not the one who will determine the implications of the deal. But absolute pardon iyon [that is absolute pardon]," Puno said in a chance interview after attending a budget hearing at the Senate.

Two parameters

Puno said he was authorized by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to negotiate a pardon with Estrada but that she set down two parameters.

"One, it has to be brought to her official attention and, second, that a pardon [should] be validly based and issued," he said. "The President is determined to follow the pulse of the people on this matter."

Puno stressed that "everything is subject to the decisions" of Ms Arroyo and Estrada.

"I think our final recommendation will be coming very soon," he said.

The Sandiganbayan on Sept. 12 convicted Estrada of plunder and ordered the forfeiture to the government of cash representing Estrada's "jueteng" payoffs amounting to P545.29 million with interest, including the P200 million deposited in the name of the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation; the P189-million commission from the purchase of Belle Corp. shares that ended up in the so-called Jose Velarde account, and the 5, 192.88 sq.m. "Boracay Mansion" in New Manila, Quezon City.

No waiver

Puno said past discussions with Estrada had been "very positive."

"I hope by next week we can have lunch at Polk Street [Estrada's residence]," he said.

Estrada's son, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, is attending Tuesday's meeting.

Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio said his office would strongly oppose a pardon for Estrada if it would involve a waiver on his liability for his "plundered" wealth.

"That is not a subject of negotiation. His civil liability is a nonnegotiable matter. It has to be settled," Villa-Ignacio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

"There is a rule that even if it's an absolute pardon granted to the convict, the civil liability [remains]. Otherwise the message the [government] is trying to tell future public officials is that they could amass billions of pesos, get away with it and enjoy the fruits of their 'labor,'" he said.

Show of remorse

Villa-Ignacio also said Malacañang could not grant an absolute pardon that would totally disregard Estrada's guilt because the court had already pronounced judgment.

"[Estrada] can always say that he is innocent, but it will not change records of the case finding him guilty," he said.

Villa-Ignacio added: "Let's not discuss a pardon at the moment. Maybe some other time when there is already an expression of repentance and willingness to give back to the government his illegally acquired assets."

Former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo said he was actually open early on to Estrada being pardoned but would now oppose it if it would be Estrada who would set the conditions for his release.

Marcelo said pardoning Estrada according to the latter's terms "would erase everything we [in the prosecution] worked hard for over the last six years."

"It will be a step backward," he said.

"It's the government that should be imposing terms for pardon, not him," Marcelo said.

"There should be an admission of guilt, an expression of contrition, full restitution (recovery of Estrada's assets) and conditions on good behavior," said Marcelo, who once headed the public prosecution panel in Estrada's trial but who has returned to private law practice.

The pardon Malacañang is reportedly preparing to give Estrada has emboldened Edsa II forces in their demand to also make Arroyo account for what they call "far worse cases of plunder."

PlunderWatch, the group that helped initiate the plunder case against Estrada, condemned the pardon offer.

Fr. Joe Dizon, the group's spokesperson, and fellow PlunderWatch convenor Carol Araullo said Arroyo was seeking to pardon Estrada to prepare for her own future.

What absolute pardon means

"In the eyes of most people, she's next," Dizon told the Inquirer, citing the corruption scandals under the Arroyo administration.

Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera does not see how granting absolute pardon to Estrada could involve no admission of guilt in his plunder case, which is what he wants.

According to Devanadera, absolute pardon means the restoration of a convicted man's civil and political rights.

Asked about Estrada's insistence on no admission of guilt, Devanadera said in Filipino: "How will that happen? He's already convicted."

She also said an absolute pardon would not erase a convict's record.

"Absolute pardon is the restoration of civil and political rights," she said.

[Radical!]

I only forgive someone who offends me only when these three are present:
1. Admission
2. Contrition
3. Retribution.

[Radical!]

Double Post...sorry mods...

[Stoner]

Here's an idea....

Pardon then Exile.

Para tapos na ang pakikielam ni Erap... Nevermind about the ill-gotten wealth as it may just be another Marcos case...

[oliver1013]

Kaya minsan di mo din masisi mag alsa mga tao...