Former president Estrada’s victory viewed from various perspectives

Is former President Joseph Estrada’s election as mayor of Manila a vindication of his claim that he is innocent of the charges against him?

There are opposing views in this regard. There are those who assert that it is. Others, like V. Fidel Guidote (Letters, Inquirer, 5/31/13), say that it is not. In particular, Guidote says that an election victory “is only a mandate to serve a constituency as best as one can.”

There are several ways of looking at Estrada’s victory. One is that there are people who do not believe the accusations against him. Another is that, even if they believe the charges, they have forgiven him and they consider his transgression as not grievous enough as to bar his election to public office once again.

Limited as it is in the specific constituency of Manila, Estrada’s victory is definitely a reflection of the sovereign will. In effect, the people of Manila were exercising their sovereign will and their right as the supreme arbiter in a political dispute that invariably affects their lives. And this is not to lay claim to that Latin saying of “Vox populi, vox dei.”

And if government authority emanates from the people as enunciated in our Constitution, how can you separate this mandate, this sovereign will, from the people’s judgment that, inferentially, includes belief in his innocence? Unless we posit that the voters lent themselves to the operation of that cinematic and literary device called “willing suspension of disbelief” where people willingly allow themselves to be momentarily lulled into the realm of the unreal.

The more amazing thing about Erap’s victory is that it was a clear manifestation of his credibility and acceptability among Manila’s electorate as against the incumbent. This is, perhaps, an affirmation of his being a true-blue, Tondo-born Manileño, even if he spent most of his adult life in San Juan and returned to Manila only a year before the elections. Adding more weight to his victory is that Manila is the country’s capital city and the seat of the national government.

Even if it is assumed that his win did not really amount to a vindication, the least that can be said is that it was unmistakably a redemption of his person. I believe that what matters most now to Manileños is for Erap to fulfill his vow to arrest Manila’s

decay and revive its lost glory.

—IKE C. GUTIERREZ,

Erap Media Bureau