Word: estrada
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Shortly after he and his son were peacefully and very publicly arrested on charges of "economic plunder" and carted off to a jail in a Manila military compound, Joseph Estrada, the disgraced ex-President of the Philippines, proclaimed his innocence on television and radio interviews and dismissed his persecution as a conspiracy being waged against him by the ?lite classes. It was potentially rousing material, but the former movie star's delivery failed him. He was still wearing his trademark white wristband adorned with the presidential seal, but his swagger was gone. He looked defeated and confused...
...better question might be: Why now? Estrada is accused of pocketing $82 million of state money in his 31 months in power, but that was merely a good week's work for the monumentally crooked Ferdinand Marcos, who was never even tried. Estrada's booze, women and illegitimate children somehow came off as charming, even in a resolutely Catholic nation. His vices certainly made him a man of the people, not the Establishment. Estrada himself characterized the People Power II revolution that overthrew him in January as the "text-messaging generation" against the "vacationless class...
...showcase nature of Estrada's first days in jail suggest that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was trying to send a message to several constituencies. The administration wants the Philippine people to believe it's trying to eradicate endemic corruption. And it wants the international community, particularly those who might invest more money if they didn't have to pay bribes right and left, to believe likewise. The Philippines enjoyed several years of improved economic performance under Estrada's predecessor, Fidel Ramos, only to see it wasted by Estrada's erratic leadership. "This is a signal to the international community that...
...arrest brought thousands of Estrada sympathizers out on the street. Inspired by pervasive pictures of their suffering hero on a too-thin mattress in a too-small cell with malfunctioning air conditioning, demonstrators congregated at the edsa shrine, which commemorates the anti-Marcos People Power revolution of 1986. Arroyo's right-mindedness, in the short term anyway, began to look like a public relations blunder. What's more, it might scare investors away. Two days prior to the arrest, Moody's Investors Service issued a "negative" rating for the Philippines, due to continuing political instability. Following Estrada's detention, both...
...possible that the opposition could still try to stir things up in the provincial cities, especially in Mindanao. Because it's such a class-based thing, with the middle and upper classes backing Arroyo while the underclass supports Estrada, there is a real fear that if the poor come out on the streets again - and it really won't take much to get them there, particularly since they clearly sensed their power this week - that there could be widespread looting and chaos...