Erap History

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I saw an interesting column today about ex-president Joseph Estrada in the Manila Standard, but too bad, the website doesn’t have an online copy. Basically, the columnist details Erap’s “last stand” shortly after the 1986 Edsa revolution, when he refused to relinquish his post as San Juan mayor to Cory Aquino’s new government. In protest, he and his aides locked themselves up in the munisipyo office, and President Cory sent a formidable police general — Alfredo Lim — to force him out.

When Lim arrived at the office, however, he found the mayor’s office empty, and stinking of urine and feces. Erap and his friends had scuttled off, but not before leaving an undignified mess for his successor to clean up.

Likewise with this latest “strategy” of his: seeing that his lawyers are unable to defend him against his own flapping tongue, he has resorted instead to “poisoning the well,” so to speak, with loaded statements about the “bias” of the court and the “power” of public opinion. He knows he is going down, but he is going to make it as difficult and as messy as he can for his opponents, possibly even fomenting yet another popular class revolt.

More commentary from Teddy Benigno, and an interesting twist from Conrad de Quiros.

Comments

  1. krove says:
    2002-03-04 at 12:43

    hayloo bp,

    hindi ba… mr. richard gordon (and others in similar situation who barricaded themselves inside their offices) and his followers did the same thing when erap tried to remove him from his office in subic for overstaying?

    and what was the reason for removing erap anyway, paulo? naalala mo pa ba? why did they have to remove erap when he was elected by the people to serve another term as mayor? revolutionary govt my arse!

    sayang bp, you should have been more active sa LAFI discussing about politics and stuff when you were still a moderator.

    k. rove

  2. Paulo says:
    2002-03-04 at 13:42

    Hi Krove! Nice to see you drop by! :) No, I deliberately did not engage too heavily in any political discussion while I was LaFI mod because I would have become embroiled in allegations of bias. Besides, I hardly had time, either to participate or even to effectively moderate. :P

    I didn’t agree with Dick Gordon’s case for shacking up like that, especially knowing how he deliberately antagonized Estrada by banning his posters from the SBMA. He believed Erap may have been out of line in appointing Payumo before his term was finished, but he at least vacated the premises in a clean and peaceful manner when the Court of Appeals rejected his repeated petitions.

    On the other end, Erap and his pals pissing and defecating all over the San Juan office just to spite the new government — revolutionary, legitimate, or otherwise — is simply undignified and unprofessional.

    (Even more unprofessional, in fact, than a prosecution panel walking out of an impeachment trial to instigate Edsa II, nein?)

    As for Cory asking Erap to step down from mayorship in 1986, I do think it was out of line as well, but I was just a kid back then; I didn’t understand any of the stuff I was seeing on TV at the time.

  3. krove says:
    2002-03-04 at 17:18

    hehe.. anong clean and peaceful? iba yata ang pinaguusapan mo sa pinaguusapan ko. when dick’s supporters left the occupied rooms, amoy ihi at ebak rin ang kwarto nila. ganyan kasi kapag marami kayo at walang cr eh. ganyan kasi kapag pinutulan ng kuryente at tubig ang building nyo. peaceful, it definitely wasnt. nakipag away pa sa pulis ang mga bata ni dick diba? hindi ba after dick’s people left, maraming properties na na-damaged?

    tama si erap na tanggalin si dick dahil co-terminus sila ni ramos sa 1998. but dick made a secret deal with fvr to cling to power in exchange for dropping out of the 98 presidential race. kaya nga nung si gma ang pumalit kay erap, kaagad sinubmit ni mr. payumo ang resignation niya. dapat kasi, sabay sila ni erap na bababa sa 2004.

    pau: “Even more unprofessional, in fact, than a prosecution panel walking out of an impeachment trial to instigate Edsa II, nein?”

    sure, what erap’s followers did was more “unprofessional.”

    but i’m really disappointed with the prosecution panel. they should have known better. what they did inside that courtroom was an unprecedented move that caused more damage to our judicial system than anything else i can think of. they showed arrogance and contempt for the rule of law.

  4. Paulo says:
    2002-03-04 at 19:36

    I hadn’t been aware of any violence or excrement on the part of Dick Gordon’s barricade, but then I wasn’t really following the news at the time.

    Interesting, how the blog post has veered on this comments page from Erap to Gordon and a strange, jumping blame game. Smokescreen tactics are a trademark of the Erap/loyalist defense. The issue here is Erap on trial, and how his past improprieties as politician reflect now on his unsavory behavior as an ex-politician on trial; not Dick Gordon.

    Hmmm. If Erap’s office stank of shit and piss simply because they didn’t have access to the bathroom during their barricade, why was it scattered all over the carpet and the floor? Bad aim? ;)