Vandal rule in EDSA - ROSES AND THORNS by Alejandro R. Roces

A mob is a many-headed beast. To make things worst, it has too many heads but no brains. The police cannot negotiate with the pro-Erap mob in EDSA. First, it has no leader that they can negotiate with. Second, they are asking for the impossible. They are demanding, not only of Estrada’s release from prison, but his restoration as President of the Republic of the Philippines. How unrealistic can one get?

They are also under the delusion that they are staging an EDSA III. The two People’s Power Revolutions were noted for being peaceful and orderly to the extent that the Philippines received a special Nobel Peace Award for staging a bloodless revolution. In contrast, we have the vandalism that marks the pro-Erap demonstrations. Not even the Catholic Shrine was spared.

It all began when the warrant of arrest for Estrada was served in his Polk St. residence. Erap admirers did everything they could to stop the authorities from doing their routine job. Here, we must commend the Army and the Police for the admirable restraint they showed in dealing with the unruly mob. Despite the fact that they were being stoned, they followed their orders of exercising maximum tolerance. It is a classic example of discipline.

The plunder case against Estrada is now in the hands of our courts. Estrada will have his day there. His followers were not able to prevent his arrest. Neither will they be able to influence the courts. Election depends on head count. In court hearings, public opinion does not count. The rule of law prevails. Erap does not have to prove his innocence. He is presumed innocent. It is government prosecutors that will have to prove his guilt.

The sooner the case is heard, the better for all concerned. Estrada has been charged with an unbailable offense. This means that his only chance of being released is if and when he is found innocent. So the sooner the case starts, the better for him. His whole future rests on his case. No amount of demonstrations can alter that fact. To stage demonstrations demanding that Estrada be restored as president is an exercise in futility. Only a brainless mob would waste their time on such a mission.

Way back in 1782, Thomas Jefferson already noted, "The mobs of great cities add just as much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body."

That is what the die-hard Erap followers are contributing – sores to the government.