STATEMENT (By the Private Prosecutors in the Estrada Plunder Case)

STATEMENT

          (By the Private Prosecutors

in theEstrada Plunder Case)

                  quote “Recent developments in the political landscape indicate the alarming revival of the issue on temporary liberty for former President Joseph Estrada as part of many politicians’ gimmickry. Words like “reconciliation” and “peace” are again peddled as if the former President’s rest house arrest is anything but just, lawful and equitable.                      quote “The Estrada Plunder case is not a commodity to be bartered or bargained with anyone for political survival or personal comfort.                     quote “The Estrada Plunder case is a judicial matter. Its disposition and treatment should remain within the independence of our judicial institutions, consistent with the evidence and the law.                       quote “Thus, we condemn in the strongest terms any effort by any person to make the Estrada Plunder case, the issues on temporary liberty, recognizance, or any of its incidents, as leverage for any political negotiation, personal benefit, gratification or accommodation.                             quote “We condemn any effort to use the Estrada Plunder case or any of its incidents as a means to further one’s political ambition or electoral base. Such unprincipled campaign cannot be done under the guise of democratic processes.                                 quote “The Estrada Plunder case is greater than any one person; it is more than any one interest: it is matter for the People. Just retribution, should Estrada be found guilty, belongs to the People — to the State as an aggrieved nation. It is not for the administration or the opposition, or any politician to use, or give the appearance of using, said issue as a bargaining chip or a mechanism for either attracting votes, or for continued threats or coercion. The judiciary should be left independent as the citizen’s last hope for fairness and justice.                            quote “For this reason, any alleged attempt at reconciliation should be founded on a genuine desire to help the citizenry; to uplift the condition of the nation, even at great peril to one’s personal ambition. Thus, personal or political benefit or advantage cannot be gained under the guise of reconciliation. The ends of justice cannot be sacrificed for political survival or personal convenience or comfort.                        

            quote “The present administration was borne out of a revolt by the People against greed, selfishness and graft and corruption. It must learn to heed the lessons of history. If it should do otherwise, and put political survival or personal ambition foremost, and appear to compromise judicial matters, which are clearly and obviously beyond its powers and competence, then it has become the very evil that the People loathed; and it shall soon find itself at the receiving end of the justice it tried to deny.” unquote.          ARNO V. SANIDAD   JOE NATHAN P. TENEFRANCIA        (Tel. No. 920-0177)        (Tel. No. 8167056)       

  ANTHONY B. PERALTA    

MARICHU LAMBINO         

 ELMAR B. GALACIO    

JOHN JERICO L. BALISNOMO 

CHRISTIAN ROBERT S. LIM