A sad Mubarak scene, possibly Arroyo's

I stayed awake, rather abnormally, well past midnight and into the early morning hours, few days ago. Frightening events troubled my psyche and seized my earlier drowsiness that not even the music of my favorite singer, John Gary, could lull me to sleep. Yes, they happened in far away places but that fact alone was not of a comfort for they might as well have taken place in our shores with equal relevance.

Allow me to focus on one such scene. On worldwide television beamed live to the rooms of many other million viewers, I saw former President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt carried on a stretcher into a courtroom for arraignment. He was under heavy guard. Ironically, they were not there to secure his presidency but to make sure flight was not available to him.

The former president's physical frame, towering and imposing during his reign as among the most powerful men in Middle East, was probably languid and limp as it was hidden by a carefully placed blanket. There was clearly something very awful that transpired in the life of this man since his ouster as president in February that aged him a lot. However, his penetrating eyes, no longer defiant this time nor of authority, were still evident.

The swagger that Mubarak showed after a hail of bullets fell then Pres. Anwar Sadat, proved to be enduring. For three decades, he called the shots, equaled only by the Cheops of ancient times, in the republic fed by the Nile River. Even the powerful America, ever the protector of the interests of state of Israel, leaned upon his broad shoulders for tactical alliance in its deals with the rest of the Arab nations. That was how important, influential and powerful Mubarak was.

We are not really certain why his people rebelled. We only woke up to the gruesome reality that Egyptians have suddenly found their former president unworthy of trust. Indeed, not very long ago, his fortune changed drastically. He had fallen to the depths of misery only known to a handful of men. And women.

Just about the same time Mubarak was wheeled into the courtroom, our own former president, a woman, was put in a hospital room. While guards kept the Egyptian ex leader away from his people, only a powerful camera, established from a distance, could capture the furrows on his forehead. Hereabout, the scene was replicated. Medical staff placed Ex President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo beyond the reach of her former constituents such that only a television crew, working from a distance, could gather some bits of information regarding her condition.

The comparison would not end there. Just as the former Philippine president was recovering from a delicate medical procedure, we are told that another plunder case was filed against her. I have lost count how many such indictments have so far been lodged before proper forum.

While viewing Mubarak's humiliating court appearance, I was jolted by a distinct possibility. In her hospital room, former President Arroyo might have also witnessed the scene. She could feel the agony of Mubarak.

Congresswoman Arroyo would reminisce that not very long ago, despite having said "I'm sorry" for a lapse of judgment, congressmen would refuse to divine the meaning of her apology. They wrapped her in mantle that protected her from being impeached. She would remember that an august Senate could not do a Brutus, as it would table an investigation into who owned a certain Jose Pidal bank account even in the face of the impression that such a bank deposit could be the source of humongous corruption. Yes, while watching Mubarak twitch his face in proclaiming innocence before a court of law, the former Philippine president could anticipate a possible similar fate. Oh how cruel could life be for her when she would could also be asked to plea her innocence to a horde of graft cases!