Kid in a candy shop
Kid in a candy shop
Updated 01:05am (Mla time) Jan 15, 2005
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the January 15, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THOSE days are gone. I have responsibilities now," Joseph Estrada told Agence France-Presse the other day. He was responding to media reports that he was living it up and partying in Hong Kong following his knee operation. But who did the disgraced former president he think he was kidding? Possibly, at the rate Hong Kong has been scandalized by his stay, the only person left to fool is himself.
When Estrada pleaded to anyone who would listen that "I ate dinner with friends, what is wrong with that? And the authorities would not give me leave to have a haircut before I came here, so I brought over my barber. Where is the harm in that?" he quite possibly thought he was entitled to some luxuries after his rather luxurious detention at home. The statement, in fact, summarizes what was-and is-wrong, with Estrada: he has such a total lack of propriety he shoots himself in the foot and then complains of the pain.
Estrada has announced that he is coming home. People should believe it when they see it. But even if he does return, the fact is his biggest enemy is himself.
After having rented a 2,700-square-foot flat at the Parkview in Hong Kong, after hosting dinner there for his family and his former Cabinet members and their wives, after having rented rooms in the hospital he was staying in (one reportedly just for the purpose of holding a round-the-clock buffet) and after flying his barber to Hong Kong on business class-no rational person can believe that Estrada is a new man. He is the same man who turned a formidable mandate into a people power revolution.
The behavior of Estrada in Hong Kong, where he underwent knee surgery, has been similar to that of a spoiled kid let loose in a candy shop. He stuffed his face, indulged his senses, spent wads and wads of cash. When he was called to task for his actions, he whined and cried.
This is the same man who says he has discovered God, who says he was at death's door several times, only to petulantly go against the authorities if they dared impose conditions to his requests for medical treatment. This is the man who says he wants to uphold the rule of law, but turns law enforcers tasked with supervising him into lackeys condoning his breaking the rules. This is the same man who pleads poverty, but has his barber flown to Hong Kong, and business class at that.
It shouldn't be surprising to anyone anymore that if Estrada is given an inch, he'll take a mile. He's been that way all his life. Still, it is galling that he grumbles about justice delayed, when he has intervened to ensure his trial would be delayed long enough to offer the prospects of a pardon in case of the election of his best friend. It is outrageous that he complains of his health, after he kept using his knees as a bargaining chip to get precisely the kind of trip he wanted. It is ridiculous that he claims to be in reduced circumstances when, locally and internationally, he has used every stratagem to make sure he can enjoy the utmost luxury.
To be sure, Estrada has also gotten a lot of help from a Palace that remains paranoid about his waning popularity. An imprisoned has-been still puts the fear of the mob in the mind of an administration that is possibly even more unpopular than Estrada. If Estrada shoots himself in the foot time and again, the administration seems to derive a perverse joy from making sure it gets hit by the ricocheting bullet.
Estrada has proven himself not only unrepentant, but incapable of not causing mischief. The government has given him every consideration, to the extent of being an accomplice to the delays and special consideration that both help Estrada's defense and harm the prosecution's efforts.
"Recoup and revive the rule of law, we insist, and no nonsense this time," former Senate President Jovito Salonga now demands. We agree and so do most rational people, we believe. Estrada's scandalous behavior is not just the self-indulgence of a self-destructive politician. It is a national -- and since his Hong Kong surgery, an international -- disgrace. How much more must the justice system and our political landscape endure?
Enough is enough. Estrada is far too old to continue acting like a spoiled brat.
Updated 01:05am (Mla time) Jan 15, 2005
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the January 15, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THOSE days are gone. I have responsibilities now," Joseph Estrada told Agence France-Presse the other day. He was responding to media reports that he was living it up and partying in Hong Kong following his knee operation. But who did the disgraced former president he think he was kidding? Possibly, at the rate Hong Kong has been scandalized by his stay, the only person left to fool is himself.
When Estrada pleaded to anyone who would listen that "I ate dinner with friends, what is wrong with that? And the authorities would not give me leave to have a haircut before I came here, so I brought over my barber. Where is the harm in that?" he quite possibly thought he was entitled to some luxuries after his rather luxurious detention at home. The statement, in fact, summarizes what was-and is-wrong, with Estrada: he has such a total lack of propriety he shoots himself in the foot and then complains of the pain.
Estrada has announced that he is coming home. People should believe it when they see it. But even if he does return, the fact is his biggest enemy is himself.
After having rented a 2,700-square-foot flat at the Parkview in Hong Kong, after hosting dinner there for his family and his former Cabinet members and their wives, after having rented rooms in the hospital he was staying in (one reportedly just for the purpose of holding a round-the-clock buffet) and after flying his barber to Hong Kong on business class-no rational person can believe that Estrada is a new man. He is the same man who turned a formidable mandate into a people power revolution.
The behavior of Estrada in Hong Kong, where he underwent knee surgery, has been similar to that of a spoiled kid let loose in a candy shop. He stuffed his face, indulged his senses, spent wads and wads of cash. When he was called to task for his actions, he whined and cried.
This is the same man who says he has discovered God, who says he was at death's door several times, only to petulantly go against the authorities if they dared impose conditions to his requests for medical treatment. This is the man who says he wants to uphold the rule of law, but turns law enforcers tasked with supervising him into lackeys condoning his breaking the rules. This is the same man who pleads poverty, but has his barber flown to Hong Kong, and business class at that.
It shouldn't be surprising to anyone anymore that if Estrada is given an inch, he'll take a mile. He's been that way all his life. Still, it is galling that he grumbles about justice delayed, when he has intervened to ensure his trial would be delayed long enough to offer the prospects of a pardon in case of the election of his best friend. It is outrageous that he complains of his health, after he kept using his knees as a bargaining chip to get precisely the kind of trip he wanted. It is ridiculous that he claims to be in reduced circumstances when, locally and internationally, he has used every stratagem to make sure he can enjoy the utmost luxury.
To be sure, Estrada has also gotten a lot of help from a Palace that remains paranoid about his waning popularity. An imprisoned has-been still puts the fear of the mob in the mind of an administration that is possibly even more unpopular than Estrada. If Estrada shoots himself in the foot time and again, the administration seems to derive a perverse joy from making sure it gets hit by the ricocheting bullet.
Estrada has proven himself not only unrepentant, but incapable of not causing mischief. The government has given him every consideration, to the extent of being an accomplice to the delays and special consideration that both help Estrada's defense and harm the prosecution's efforts.
"Recoup and revive the rule of law, we insist, and no nonsense this time," former Senate President Jovito Salonga now demands. We agree and so do most rational people, we believe. Estrada's scandalous behavior is not just the self-indulgence of a self-destructive politician. It is a national -- and since his Hong Kong surgery, an international -- disgrace. How much more must the justice system and our political landscape endure?
Enough is enough. Estrada is far too old to continue acting like a spoiled brat.
posted by Dante at 2:02 PM
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