No apology needed Erap, we love you!

So I'm sitting here watching Joseph Estrada (a.k.a. Erap) arrive in San Juan on live TV, just after he had been given a full presidential pardon earlier today, and the whole time I'm asking myself why does this guy still have so many supporters? Didn't this guy steal millions of their hard earn pesos? Or maybe these are all the people that failed to pay their taxes so they could care less of how he had plundered their country. It's either that or I'm still trapped in the Twilight Zone. As I continued to watch his supporters carry their balloons and wave their banners saying “Welcome home Erap”, I couldn't help but see the irony in this as well.

Just a week ago people around here were still fuming about the comment made in regards to Filipino doctors on Desperate Housewives. Filipino officials were demanding an apology from ABC and after they got it they were saying it wasn't good enough. Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago (the one who stated that the Chinese invented corruption on live TV) asked the people to stop watching the show and that the television station that airs the show here in the Philippines pull it from the airwaves. Another senator even wanted the directors to write in a Filipino character to be shown in good light.

Now, I'll admit that when I first heard the comment made by Terri Hatcher I just laughed, but then later I realized it may have been a little offensive. Any doctor who graduated from a school in the Philippines and ended up in the US as a doctor would have to work his/her ass off to get there. To work in the US you will also have to pass the US boards just like any student who graduated in America. So how can one imply they are not qualified? However, at the same time though I am sure that are quiet a few good medical schools here in the Philippines a lot of them are also... well, crap. I attend a medical school here in the Philippines and to tell you the truth I would be scared to enter my medical school's hospital for any serious injury. I would rather take my chances on surviving the long plane ride home than be admitted here. I have heard of so many horror stories at this hospital and I am sure this is not the only place were such atrocities are being committed.

One of my classmates once told me that you have to choose your battles, but why choose the battles that mean so little? What will all this fuss over some comment in a silly television show get you? Redemption in the minds of the rest of the world? Personally I don't think the reputation the Philippines has established will change much over night with any form of apology given by ABC. And even if it does what good would it do for a country that is rotting from the inside? Everyday in this country Filipinos are being treated unjustly by their own countrymen. These injustices range from small to grand scale crimes, and most of the time the people are content in sitting there and doing nothing about it. Hell, even at my university students are mistreated by the administration but I've never seen the student body here once take up any kind of stand against them. Even worse people who plunder the country like Marcos and Erap are set free to live out their lives without so much of a slap on the wrist or an apology. Just a few minutes ago I saw Erap live on national TV deny that he had ever committed any form of corruption as president. Is what is being said on a sitcom really all that more important to the Filipino people when corruption in the country is allowed to go unabated?

One other thing I have to point out concerning this issue is that while Erap was under “house arrest” the Philippine government continued to allow him to fly over to the US for medical treatment. I guess the government felt that being forced to stay in the country and be treated by Filipino doctors would be too unjustly of a punishment for the crimes he committed. Hmm, it seems the irony never ends...