EDITORIAL - Smear jobs and the truth

Deposed President Joseph Estrada is right – his vices were known even during the 1998 campaign. But he acknowledged only one – womanizing – largely because the evidence was impossible to deny. Proof of the gambling and drinking came from certain quarters. In an election year, however, Estrada had a pat response – he said everything was black propaganda hurled by his political opponents, including the Catholic Church. Within months after assuming power, the man who provided evidence of Estrada’s heavy gambling disappeared, never to be heard from again. In the meantime, Estrada embarked on the linchpin of his administration: Turning the Philippines into Asia’s next gambling capital.

Estrada’s vices, ignored by the voters in 1998, did him in just two and a half years into his disastrous term. Throughout his tumultuous presidency, he dismissed all charges hurled against him as black propaganda concocted by destabilizers. It didn’t take long for Filipinos to know better and throw him out.

Now it’s another election year, and Estrada and his cohorts are again crying black propaganda. It’s their response to the stories now coming out about the true state of the nation under Estrada’s watch. The details, paper trail and pieces of evidence are being provided mostly by people who used to be cronies of Estrada, or by people who once feared for their lives if they told the truth. Now they’re ready to talk. The least the people can do is listen, consider the evidence and see if the stories are plain black propaganda.

To make these accusations credible and isolate them from politics, formal charges must be filed so the courts can take over. Let the lawyers fight it out, as they did in Estrada’s impeachment trial. The nation learned a painful lesson when it shrugged off the "black propaganda" against Estrada in 1998. This time the nation should not commit the same mistake. There’s supposed to be a smear campaign set to be launched against Estrada’s candidates. But there’s a difference between smear jobs and telling the truth. Watch Estrada and his candidates who are crying black propaganda, and see if they can offer anything better to disprove allegations of wrongdoing hurled against them.