Crimes of the mind

“Give and forgive in order to be happy.” That’s the advice Joseph Estrada has for Koko Pimentel who refuses to join UNA (United Nationalist Alliance) unless it drops Juan Miguel Zubiri. Zubiri served for four years as senator before he stepped down from his post last year when it became apparent he had benefited from electoral fraud in 2007.

“I’ve forgiven a lot of people,” Estrada said. “At least, I’m happy. I feel better. You no longer wake up in the morning thinking how you could get even. It’s not good. You can’t move on.”

But Estrada had some choice words for the Pimentels. “Nauuna yabang eh, akala nila sila lang ang righteous,” he said reacting to Nene’s barbs on UNA. (That’s an Eraption right there: He probably meant, “akala nila sila lang ang tama.”) Of course, he said, he should have expected it. The elder Pimentel turned his back on him before when, after running—and winning—as senator under him, Nene joined the Edsa II forces that ousted him. Still, Erap said, he hadn’t given up hope he could persuade the younger Pimentel to stick with UNA. “He is my godson.”

All this shows what sucks about Philippine politics.

At the very least, it shows again that we do not have any real parties. What we have are loose, fickle, completely impermanent alliances, arrangements or companionships whose bonds are based on blood and the ruthless pursuit of personal political happy-ness. What in hell does Koko’s being the godson of Erap have to do with anything? Alas, in this country it has to do with everything. It’s the sine qua non of political partnerships as much as of business partnerships.

Nene Pimentel did turn his back on Erap after running under his party, but ironically that is the one thing that does not speak of the politics of opportunism. Pimentel, who chaired the Erap impeachment trial, was one of those who voted for the opening of the second envelope. Thenceforth, he left Erap’s ranks. But unlike Juan Ponce Enrile and Miriam Santiago, he did not do so only to swiftly go to Gloria’s side: That is the politics of opportunism at its worst. Of course it would have helped if Nene had not run under Erap in the first place, alongside Enrile. He had accused Enrile of dagdag-bawas, the first time the term entered the political lexicon, and had an electoral protest against him pending in court. But he ran with him anyway, effectively dashing his protest. Example is the greatest teacher of all. But, well, maybe he has learned from his mistake and doesn’t want his son to repeat it.

But this is nothing. What sucks about Erap’s statement is the part about forgiving and forgetting. He has already forgiven others? Well, it’s not for him to forgive others, it’s for others to forgive him. Specifically, it’s not for him to forgive the country for ousting him, it’s for the country to forgive him for turning it into a cesspool. He should be thankful we are a monstrously forgiving people who imagine his incarceration, however brief and comfortable, is punishment enough for his sins.

But what an idiotic idea that Koko should forget that Migs stole four years of his life and join him under UNA’s banners. What, to fight for truth, freedom, and justice? As observers have observed, Zubiri presents a case where everyone involved in a crime has been arraigned—except its beneficiary. Benjamin Abalos has been so, Andal Ampatuan has been so. Zubiri has been, well, doing commercials, a huge billboard of him adorning Edsa, and will now run under UNA. That must make him heaven’s—or hell’s—favorite son, the world being perfectly willing to lie, cheat and steal for him without him knowing it.

You tolerate a crime, life does not go on, you do not go on. You get stuck like a needle in a broken record, repeating the same tune, or phrase, again and again. You let the criminal go free, and you get stuck in space and time, unable to extricate yourself from the half-baked asphalt, unable to move, frozen in that spot forever. There is only one thing that allows life to go on after a crime, there is only one thing that allows you to go on after a crime. That is justice.

You forget electoral fraud, you might as well forget murder. You forgive someone who robbed you of four years of your life, you might as well forgive someone who robbed you of 10 years of your life. You forgive and forget Zubiri, you might as well forgive and forget Gloria.

It’s the same principle. Why on earth must we prosecute Gloria? Why on earth must we punish Gloria? Why should we be bothered that she won by the grace of Garci and not God, and turned this country upside down, righting wrong, wronging right, just to prop up the lie? Why should we be bothered that she perverted every institution in society, the very seats of law and morality (which are the courts and the Church, law and religion), and the very seats of power and circumstance, of armed and political might (which are the military and Congress) just to prop up the lie?

Why don’t we just, as Gloria’s bishops proposed then and as Erap proposes now, move on?

But such is the curious nature of this country; before all this is over, Koko Pimentel might yet end up the kontrabida. He might yet end up as the makulit and mayabang, the rigid and unforgiving. All because he wants to see crime-and-punishment done, all because he wants to see justice done, all because he wants to restore balance in the universe.

Well, being honest is not being mayabang, it is being matino. Being uncompromising with evil is not being unreasonable, it is being lofty. Being principled is not being righteous, it is simply being right.

Forgiveness is an exaggerated virtue. Where it means forgiving crime, it is not a virtue, it is a vice. It is not a virtue, it is a disgrace.

It is not a virtue, it is a crime.