khanterbury tales

ERAP found guilty of plunder

After six years, four months and 17 days, the Sandiganbayan at 9:24am today declared the former President Joseph Estrada guilty of the crime of plunder and sentenced to reclusion perpetua. The court also ordered the forfeiture of P524.7 million, inclusive of the amount given to a Mindanao youth organization as well as the forfeiture of P189million under the Jose Velarde account, inclusive of the so-called Boracay mansion in New Manila and cash bonds posted by Jinggoy Estrada and Atty. Serapio. (for full text of decision, click here.)

Erap, however, was acquitted from the crime of perjury, which was charged for not declaring some of his properties as required by law for all government officials. Jinggoy, on the other hand, was acquitted from charge of plunder.

The hearing this morning was very brief since the judges decided to simply read the dispositive portion of the court's decision. The judges also granted that --until further notice-- the convicted president could remain in his Tanay home under house arrest instead of being immediately transferred to the public jail.

Monitoring the news on TV and radio, it seemed that media did a good job covering the event in an orderly and balanced way without blowing matters out of proportion. ABS-CBN had apparently dedicated their entire news team to cover this one event from all angles from the gate of the Tanay house where Erap is being held to the rallies in Commonwealth and Mendiola.

The camera angle inside the courthouse was limited to a close up of the clerk who read the dispositive portion. No view of the former president was captured by the camera.

The Supreme Court chose a win-win situation in terms of the media coverage, by allowing the live coverage of the trial but limiting it commercial media to a camera hook-up to the official TV crew of the Supreme Court Public Information Office. I think that this was win-win because it prevented the media crews from creating chaos as they try to jump over each other to get a better angle...just as they had done during the coverage of the subic rape case. #

Labels: media, nation

posted by rek @ 9:48 AM