PLLP Statement on the Estrada Pardon

The Protestant Lawyers League of the Philippines issued the following statement concerning the Estrada pardon.

STATEMENT ON THE ESTRADA PARDON

WE, the members of the Protestant Lawyers League of the Philippines strongly condemn President Gloria Macapagal’s grant of pardon to former President Joseph Estrada, convicted of plunder by the Sandiganbayan.

While we acknowledge the authority of the President under the Constitution to grant executive clemency, we share the lament of many that the timing was indecently hasty and the grounds plainly deficient.

Mr. Estrada has not even begun serving his sentence which the People of the Philippines obtained after more than six protracted years of prosecution.

At no point during his impeachment, his trial and conviction of plunder, in the plea of his lawyers for pardon, or in his acceptance of it, did Mr. Estrada admit his guilt, express contrition and remorse, or offer full restitution.

He has to this day remained defiant and continues to attack the integrity of the legal processes of the nation.

This utter lack of accountability appears to be a persistent trend in this government. Nobody involved in the fertilizer scam instigated by a ranking government official, in the notorious Hello Garci scandal, in the anomalous ZTE broadband deal, and in the latest and shameless distribution of millions of pesos to political allies right in the heart of Malacanang Palace, has been prosecuted or jailed for their misdeeds.

Instead, all we see are Cabinet officials resigning in protest against illegal acts in high office, military officers who are languishing in detention for demanding for what is right and just, and the people’s plea for rectitude in government stifled time and time again.

We believe in the Biblical injunction that “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Proverbs 14:34. Our continuing prayer and fervent hope is for leaders to make righteousness the keystone to governance.