Pardon on Erap, A Second Chance?
My first reaction was disappointment at our President when she granted absolute pardon to Erap. What happened to all that government money spent on his trial? By giving Erap that absolute pardon, our president restored all his civil and political rights, which were automatically removed by his conviction of atrocious crimes involving illegally amassing billions of pesos by virtue of his public office. I am not going to talk about the political implications of Erap’s absolute pardon.
I believe everyone should be given a second chance to fix things right. The thing is a deal was worked out in that Erap can keep some, if not most, of the money he got during his years as a so-called public servant. This was openly admitted by Estrada’s lawyers and Malacanang and is reportedly included in the document giving him executive clemency. I feel bad that he gets to keep most of the money . More than $15.5 million in bank accounts believed to be owned by him would remain in effect, Bunye said.