An unacceptable forgiving binge

President Arroyo closed the remaining weeks of the year on a pardoning binge, forgiving and releasing former president Joseph Estrada who just shortly before was convicted for plunder and following it up with the release of one of the soldiers in the Ninoy Aquino assassination.

As if that was not enough, Arroyo just released two of the junior military officers who led the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003, the very people who, armed to the teeth, were prepared to take lives to grab power.

Of course one can never divine the tuggings of the human heart, and we will never know what prompted the president to embark on this tack, in the same manner that we will never know how the beneficiaries of this " benevolence " are going to be affected by the development.

Most people would probably cross their fingers and hope for the best. But in a country where the same people almost never learn their lessons, one may also just as well cross his or her fingers and brace for the worst.

It may be too early to tell, especially about something done in exchange for something far-ranging, but it seems the release of Estrada is more worrisome for people who are not privy to the inside story.

Right now Estrada is enjoying himself, almost daily pumping flesh with the masses in whose collective mind the offense of plunder apparently failed to sink in, still a hero to those he has actually betrayed.

To those who benefitted from whatever deal may have been struck between the two powerful forces in this country, everything may be transpiring according to plan, since there seems to be no discomfort being felt or shown by either side.

But to the ordinary citizen, the unfolding drama is both perplexing and disconcerting, mainly because while government appears to be having a very hard time doing things right, it is going very high profile in doing things wrong.

For not all the best intentions in the world, especially those being kept from the rest of us, can justify the release of the single biggest convict then in custody. More clear-thinking governments would have loved to keep it that way both as example and deterrent.

The release of one of the soldiers in the Aquino assassination also stabbed at highly sensitive chords in the national psyche. Never mind the remnants of the Aquino family, most of whom have betrayed the slain hero's legacy. But a lot of Filipinos were wounded by the move.

Many Filipinos who suffered under the Marcos dictatorship saw in Aquino the personification of their elusive hope. When Aquino was murdered, that hope died as well. To free that soldier was to defile the grave where rested the almost forgotten memory of hope.

Now some of the leaders of those pesky mutinous soldiers have been freed, without anyone of us ever knowing what comes after that. Will Filipinos now have peace of mind or will they forever lie awake not knowing what the morning brings.

These mutinous soldiers are traitors of the worst kind because they are prepared to kill even the innocent, for reasons that are unclear and unacceptable to most of us, and which can be articulated in ways that did not require violence and disruption.

Whatever prompted Arroyo to do these things have a direct bearing on why she continues to be unpopular. For the great majority of Filipinos can never see any rhyme or reason for these moves, other than that these are calculated risks meant to save only her neck.