Mug Shots

FRAMED Gloria Arroyo's alleged mugshot 

WHEN FORMER PRESIDENT JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA'S impeachment case reached its tipping point courtesy of the prosecution panel’s infamous walkout in the Senate midway through the deliberation of the opening of the controversial second envelope, Erap’s days as the president of the country was already numbered. 

When he did finally step out of Malacañang as an alleged plunderer, the former movie star and a long time mayor, not to mention the most popular president ever to grace the Palace since the legendary Magsaysay, was immediately escorted like a common criminal inside a police station and was asked to stand in front of the camera for his now equally “legendary” mug shots.

For six years and six months, Erap was treated like a curiosity shop. Whenever he was transported from one prison cell to another, especially during his early days behind bars, a phalanx of heavily armed men would surround him. He was even looked upon as if a hefty sum was placed upon his head, a public enemy; a pariah. And his mug shot says it all. It was a look that would probably haunt his turncoats and his fair-weather friends, those who did him in, to infinity. Almost overnight, Erap went from being an untouchable defendant in that impeachment case to a helpless convict nervously holding his serial number. Not only was his case a disappointment to his popularity as the man of the masses, but his arrest was way too hapless for a president to go through.

Now, ten years after, history went back to the scene. Erap was no longer involved though, but his successor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is now taking his place. But unlike his humiliating arrest, Arroyo’s case was a bit processed. After being given a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) from the Supreme Court in response to the circular issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ), preventing her to go out of the country in evasion of the possible cases filed against her, Arroyo must have felt what Erap did when Justice Secretary Leila de Lima herself block her bid to travel abroad for her recuperation despite the presence of the TRO. Threats of constitutional crisis immediately ensued but soon gave way to an arrest warrant. And just like her predecessor Erap, her days of immunity might certainly be closing in.

Despite efforts to meet halfway between the government and the Arroyo camp, the latter still maintains its calibrated pre-emptive response to the issues confronting them, so that even in Gloria’s elusive mug shot, which was taken out of sight from the public and from the media as well (a stark contrast to that of Erap’s), somehow elicits a big deal to the former first couple and their sententious spokesperson Elena Bautista-Horn; perhaps they too felt some sort of stigma about what happened to Erap. 

Be that as it may, but the whole gesture was a bit insulting and iniquitous to Erap who, until now, as a matter of prerequisite, has not been proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, thanks mainly to the fatal sentiments and the eventual walkout of that prosecution panel.

But maybe Erap, after all, deserved that kind of treatment. Maybe it was in keeping with his not-so-subtle misdemeanors at that time that finally caught him off guard. Maybe the ineptitude of that prosecution panel, in the end, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The only flaw Erap committed or perhaps felt, was that he was too naïve about the situation, and especially about the people around him. 

His naiveté turned out to be a loose grip in relation to his political connections. And by the looks of it, you won’t see that in Arroyo this time. You could almost feel that they will do, come hell or high court, everything in their capacity not to be caught dead with their pants down. Her eagerness to go out of the country just hours after receiving the TRO might probably go a long way as far as evading her own mug shots are concerned.

So concerned are the Arroyos that they practically went out, so to speak, trying to locate any possible publication of her mug shots as if searching for a lost relative. And her lawyers were constantly crying foul over the maltreatment and disrespect their client has been allegedly receiving since their unfortunate incident at the airport took place. 

Somehow they took these mug shots as a personal insult considering that the former president is undergoing what they believed is a life-threatening situation. That by making these mug shots public, the Arroyos can actually make a case that they have not been treated fairly.

This leaves Erap practically in the dust. And this makes Arroyo ahead of the game. When Erap positioned himself to those mug shots in full view and on national TV, most of us did not concern ourselves anymore about its probable implications, much less its impact to the image of the country. In fact, when those cameras started clicking in, we deliberately set aside Erap being the former president and all that. We relished the thought that he had paid the price for what he did, regardless of those self-serving testimonies of his former accomplice, Gov. Chavit Singson. 

But Erap eventually served his time, despite being given by then Justice Secretary Nani Perez and Arroyo herself a choice to leave the country in exchange for the presidency.

Perhaps these mug shots are not for public consumption. Some of Arroyo’s appointees are now in the Supreme Court and seeing these actual photos might mean an indictment in the process. 

By now most of us have been fairly acquainted with her atrocities allegedly committed in a span of nine years, and most of these deeds have been equally documented; but to see Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo standing in front of the camera to take her own shot at infamy is simply a welcome respite and a relief as well for us who had gone through years of suffering almost a decade of her unmitigated immunity. The Arroyos will do their very best not to tag those incriminating photos for all to see. It might be their last shot at innocence, and quite possibly the only one left.