Estrada to be granted Presidential pardon?!
You have got to be kidding me!!!
ABS-CBN/Agence France Presse just reported that former President Joseph Estrada may just be granted a Presidential pardon by Friday. A unnamed source from Erap’s camp disclosed this today, October 25.
So just wait a minute here. What was all that hoopla that the Sandiganbayan went through for six long years?! Estrada was found guilty of plunder, charged with life sentence, required to return about PhP400M back to the government, and sequestring all his properties. Plus the Court ordered the arrest of all his co-defendants in the case.
So, was the plunder case just a show? And along with the pardon, can Estrada now keep his money and his cronies?
Erap has always said he is innocent and a victim of corruption charges and his prosecution “a conspiracy by the powerful elite, the church and President Arroyo.”
I also dug up an old GMANews revealing that current President Gloria Arroyo is open to talks for an absolute pardon, to ease the political crisis and frequent coup rumors that plague her administration. Apparently, the Palace thinks that being in jail for six years, and having an ailing mother waiting for him is justifiable enough to grant the ex-president a pardon.
Why would Arroyo pardon a man who thinks he is innocent and a victim of her administration? All those other political foes of Arroyo are now going to wage war against her and create enough tension so their comrades in jail can be freed and granted pardon too! I mean, Marcos was exiled from the Philippines up to his death, and ERAP gets pardoned?!
This is absolute nonsense, a cause for blackamail, makes Arroyo a laughingstock, and a mockery of the justice system!
Oooh it makes me so mad!
Tags: Joseph Estrada, president, philippines, ex-president, plunder, verdict, guilty, pardon, ERAP
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