Erap found Guilty

I just found out from here, here and here.

The verdict didn’t come to me as a surprise really. I mean from his systematic collection of P545 million in illegal gambling payoffs and his receipt of a P189-million commission from stock market purchases of state-managed employee pension funds, who would think he’d get off innocent? Although Erap remains popular in the masses, we cannot deny that the former president cannot pin his hopes behind his being the ‘opposition head’ against the administration. Nor can we expect him to hide behind the reputed Edsa 4, supposed to be staged by his supporters.

The verdict means both good and bad for me: good because the justice system worked (finally) and bad because although justice was served, it is still selective. How about serving PGMA and her boys a slapping lawsuit for Hello Garci, the ZTE Broadband deal, Fertilizer Scam and the Extrajudicial Killings filed for by almost everyone including UN? We can actually agree with (to a certain degree) Erap when he says that the charges against him are politically motivated and that his verdict would surely reflect his thoughts. Yes, true, could be, but we cannot dismiss the evidences filed against him even if we sympathize with his cause to topple PGMA and her illegitimate government.

The opposition senators have voiced out that Erap might reappeal his case. Actually, if he reappeals his case and gets denied, Edsa 4 might move again to his side. If he reppeals and gets a not guilty verdict, the other side of the fence, including business sectors, the church and some ‘elitist’ thinkers, might be the ones to swell up in anger. In the end, when I think about it, no one would win if this happens.

The success of this trial lies if we leave things as they are and just move on to these new and damaging issues as I’ve mentioned earlier. Erap got his verdict, and I think it’s high time PGMA and her dogs get the same.