My Franciscan Essay. Your Folk Hero? Joseph Estrada

Estrada´s World is that of make-believe. You make it, you believe it.

Frank´s World is that of the Franciscan Essay. I essay that we´ll see each other in a little while.

This is all about the education of Joseph ´Erap´ Estrada. I began this one thinking of Erap and my Franciscan Essay. I´m writing this essay with only those two thoughts in mind; I´m making this all up, I´m creating it as I write. I don´t know at this point where I´m going, but I know I´d like to get there. That´s what the Franciscan Essay is all about: you make it, it´s yours.

´I am a Franciscan!´ I say that in the manner of John F Kennedy, ´I am a Berliner!´ I wrote that on October 23 in my book, the one that is coming out towards the end of next month, November; now in press, my book is being published inter-continentally outside the Philippines where I am right now; more of it later.

Of course I am. I can´t help it. I´m a Franciscan because my first name is Francisco; I was born on the day of the Stigmata of Saint Francis, September 17; like the Franciscan University of Steubenville, I believe in ´quality academic programs that combine academic challenge, career preparation, and spiritual growth´ (franciscan.edu). I believe you call that relevance. I believe in the Franciscan order (my own), that is, when I begin to write, disorder is the order of the day. You call that creativity.

Now, about the Franciscan vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity, this time I have a problem. Obedience? I´m not your usual good and faithful servant. I can only satisfy poverty (I have hope but I have no car, no bank account, no home) and chastity (I am a one-woman man, heaven knows my wife knows). What about a life of prayer and fasting? That depends on what you mean by prayer. But fasting, yes, at home we are always fasting: we take 2 meals a day, and we´ve been doing that for years; no, we don´t gorge on the first meal of the day. You do it if you mean it.

I am a Franciscan also because I believe in Mother Angelica – in fact, I´m in awe of her. You see, Saint Francis founded three orders: Friars Minor, Poor Sisters of Clare, and Brothers & Sisters of Penance. Mother Angelica is of the Poor Sisters of Clare; I have written about the power of her faith as shown in her birthing and mothering – but not smothering – of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN); I wrote about her in ´The Idiot´s Box, The Great American Revolution´ (americanchronicle.com). Her message? Believe in the impossible!

I have just found out that my concept of the Franciscan Essay is just another Franciscan phenomenon. The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal have another; they say in their website franciscanfriars.com: ´While having a website, we do not have computers or Internet in our friaries – a Franciscan paradox!´ I would say that´s the right Franciscan attitude, creative. Instead of pointing out the obvious, if not your paradigm, shift your metaphor.

My forthcoming book is a collection of articles already published in my name by the American Chronicle, each one of which I now call a Franciscan Essay. While we wait for my book to roll off the press, I can tell you something about the subject, its attributes:

A Franciscan Essay takes you everywhere and anywhere. It is a celebration of life in thoughts, by words, with feeling. It is a belief in the usefulness of the unusual, in the importance of the impossible. Even while the subject matter is not new, a Franciscan Essay is always a surprise.

While I´m not free to discuss my book right now, I am free to illustrate what a Franciscan Essay is. Allow me then to talk about Erap, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, actor, President of the Philippines, ladies man. His is a colorful life, and he looks it; his is a woeful life, and he doesn´t look it. Life is not how other people look at you, but how you look at yourself.

On 2001 April 4, Ombudsman Aniano Desierto charged Erap at the Sandiganbayan with a P 4B economic plunder; six-and-a-half years later, on 2007 September 12, the Sandiganbayan found him guilty and ordered him punished with up to 30 years imprisonment. Then, yesterday, Friday, October 26, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo granted his request for Executive Clemency. His full civic and political rights have been restored. His sins have been forgiven him.

Now then, the life of Erap has been a Franciscan paradox itself. In his public movies, he is the swashbuckling folk hero, defender of the weak and downtrodden; in his private moments, he is the swashbuckling anti-hero that most media and many people don´t seem to know. Once an actor, always an actor? Once a fan, always a fan?

For example, here is an entry from a reporter´s notebook: ´Estrada arrived in San Juan City Friday and addressed throngs of his supporters who crowded the street in front of the city hall to listen to their hero who was released from detention after President Arroyo granted him Executive Clemency.´ Erap is known for eraptions (malapropisms); in any case, to be kind, his English is poor, and so is the reporter´s; in the sentence I just quoted, there is a wrong word used if you can find it. Birds of a feather flock together.

It seems that Erap is simply living his reel life in real life, or he can´t distinguish one from the other. Kirsty Alfredson & Rufi Vigilar tell us (2001, CNN, edition.cnn.com):

Like the action movies he starred in, Estrada´s career is punctuated by dramatic plot changes characterized by extreme lows and dizzying successes. original image from CNN

Maybe he gets his high from extremes. In the presidential election of 1998, he won by the widest margin ever in Philippine history, taking 40% of the votes, his closest rival, Joe de Venecia taking 13%, a difference of 27% (Terry McCarthy, 2000 May 29, Time Asia, time.com). I know personally that even in the University Town of Los Baños, this Ateneo dropout won. The academics must have thought he was honest and true. Or not that they loved Joe de Venecia less, but that they loved Joseph Estrada more.

And how did he fare as President of his country? He was the same man; he didn´t change, a friendly guy who couldn´t let a friend down. Witness this scene (Terry McCarthy, cited):

An old man in tattered clothes is ushered through the crowd. The President recognizes the man, who had been a security guard in San Juan 15 years ago, when Estrada was the town´s Mayor. Master of the common touch, Estrada converses warmly for several minutes. As the man turns to go, the President pulls out his wallet and discreetly slips his old buddy a few bills.

Jenny Booth reports (September 12, timesonline.co.uk):

His term of office was marked by reports of policy decisions taken after late-night drinking bouts, millions of pesos won or lost in gambling sessions, and mistresses and their lavish lifestyles. The reports horrified the middle class and the powerful Catholic Church. Two years after his election he was impeached for corruption, and he was deposed in an army-choreographed uprising the following year after the impeachment trial collapsed in the Senate.

The drinking bouts were with his ´Midnight Cabinet´ – who were ´old drinking pals who called on him at the palace late at night´ (BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk). Erap adored his friends too much he could not rise to the level of patria adorada.

But it is not true that Erap was deposed by an uprising orchestrated by the Army. The Army is not that powerful, or credible; no Army ever is, even in countries ruled by military juntas, or Adolf Hitlers. They like to think they can, but they cannot take – or hold power – on their own.

I´m saying this on the basis of what was known in Europe already in 1892 about staging a successful revolution, and which was unrecognized in the highly dramatic, bloodless People Power / EDSA Revolution of 1986 in the Philippines. In his 1892 January 30 letter, Austrian intellectual Ferdinand Blumentritt begged his best friend Jose Rizal, now the Philippines´ National Hero: ´I beg you not to meddle in revolutionary agitations´ because:

A revolution has no probability of success unless: 1st, a part of the army and navy rebel; 2nd, the metropolis is at war with another nation; 3rd, there are money and munitions available; and 4th, some foreign country give its official or secret support to the revolution. None of these conditions exists in the Philippines.

I say today, echoing Blumentritt: ´None of these conditions exists in the Philippines.´

Still, I think Blumentritt´s list misses one important factor of a Revolution, the 5th: a charismatic leader. A leader with appeal, magnetism, captivating personality. Blumentritt didn´t have to mention it; he knew Jose Rizal was that one. Andres Bonifacio was another one, so we had the first Katipunan Revolution. That failed because Emilio Aguinaldo was more charismatic, so it was he who continued the Unfinished Revolution. Jaime Cardinal Sin was that one; he was that one not just once but twice: People Power I (1986, against President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos), People Power II (2001, against President Joseph Estrada), with 15 years in-between Revolutions. Charisma stays with you.

And Erap is that one, yes! Joseph Estrada is charismatic the way Gringo Honasan is not, Jinggoy Estrada is not, Ping Lacson is not, Mar Roxas is not, Aquilino Pimentel is not, Chiz Escudero is not.

Jenny Booth (cited) quotes Erap as saying his presidency was the ´last and best performance of my life.´ It was. If I could, I would recommend him for an Oscar; it had been quite a performance and continues right up to this moment. It´s a solo performance – sometimes, it´s a great standup comedy, if you have a great sense of humor. Erap, your performance is great, but we need cash.

I said the Franciscan Essay comes up with the unexpected, always. And here it comes: I can look at the news in another way and challenge Joseph Estrada:

Erap, grow up! There is one last great act of your life you have yet to perform: Being a Pied Piper to the poor Filipinos who adore you, you whose words are their command.

And that´s the reason I wrote this essay: To tell Joseph Estrada about himself, to challenge him to be a hero to his face, not the least to his people, not in an acting capacity for once, but in a position of strength.

BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk) reports: ´But despite his fall from grace, he is still widely seen as the country´s most popular President in two decades.´ My point exactly.

In his first public appearance after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo granted him that which he requested, Executive Clemency, late afternoon of last Friday, he told the multitude who gathered to welcome him in front of the city hall in San Juan, ´I am now free to pursue my pro-poor programs that I have initiated´ (ABS-CBN News, October 26, abs-cbnnews.com). ´There is no substitute for freedom.´

Erap, there is no substitute for greatness.

BBC News (News.bbc.co.uk) reminds us about Erap:

He cultivated an image as the friend of the poor, a Robin Hood figure committed to redistributing wealth and power. He espoused the cause of poor agricultural workers, pledging to improve their lot.

Erap, with your influence, if not your money, there are many things you can do for the poor. An Al Gore-like campaign for local response to global warming may be too much for you, but you can do any or all of these:

Help set up little corporations and go microfinance. Help set up small cooperatives in the villages. Campaign for discipline among jeepney drivers and bus drivers of Metro Manila. Appeal for greener and cleaner Metro Manila.

If you want to go into business and at the same time help the small farmers, including non-farmers who own no piece of land at all, I recommend producing bioethanol from sweet sorghum. Global warming is big business now, if you haven´t heard. Ask the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) how this can be done – they are already doing it in Andhra Pradesh, India; thousands of small Indian farmers supply sweet sorghum stalks to the Rusni Distillery. And you know what? Erap, the fellow who captains Team ICRISAT is a Filipino; in fact, you know him well, as he was your Secretary of Agriculture: William Dollente Dar, now Director General of ICRISAT. When the Filipino is good, he is the best.

I can summarize for you what I have already written about sweet sorghum as source of ethanol for blending with gasoline in cars (´The Yankee Dawdle. On Discovery Sorghum, the Great Climate Crop,´ 2007 February 4, americanchronicle.com). I now compare sweet sorghum with corn (the choice of the US) and sugarcane (the choice of Brazil):

(1) Sweet sorghum will grow where neither corn nor sugarcane will: dryland, acidic or basic soil, waterlogged field. (2) Sweet sorghum competes favorably with weeds. (3) Sweet sorghum is easiest to plant, and cheapest: 5 kilos to a hectare. (4) Processing of ethanol from sweet sorghum is more environment-friendly than either corn or sugarcane. (5) Ethanol from sweet sorghum has lower sulphur content (less polluting) and has higher octane (more power).

Erap, if you are truly for the poor, with all your might help them rise above their station in life by working for them, with them, encouraging them, advocating for them, and not simply shooting from the hip, shooting darts at little ladies, shooting your mouth off.

Erap, I hope you realize that that big Executive Clemency granted to you by the little lady is your last chance at being great for your country. At 70, there is no time for you to waste. If you do not rise above politics, then you will remain Joseph Ejercito Estrada, the favorite son of your mother, once President of your country, you who promised redemption of the poor and disadvantaged Filipinos; you will forever be acting out the greatest performance of your life, showing to the whole world that you have only two talents: being funny and being irrelevant.