MANILA, Philippines—For saying sorry, former President Corazon Aquino reaped the whirlwind.

“I’m so disappointed with Cory,” Sen. Richard Gordon bristled, echoing the sentiment of some key leaders of People Power II that ousted President Joseph Estrada in January 2001 after his allies blocked his impeachment trial in the Senate for corruption.

“She is now called ‘President Sorry,’” said Gordon, who dispatched his supporters to the four-day uprising against Estrada.

A day after Aquino asked for forgiveness from Estrada at Monday’s launch of deposed Speaker Jose de Venecia’s tell-all book about corruption in the Arroyo administration, the heroine of People Power I received brickbats.

Gordon said that Estrada committed illegal acts, so the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court convicted him of plunder in 2007 but he was later pardoned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“He has already been forgiven. And I’m part of that (movement) that removed him. No regrets about that. I’m also sorry that this administration can’t seem to get its act together to regain the people’s trust,” Gordon said.

“But I will never use that to say and condone what has happened in the past. That’s not right. We can’t have a double standard. We have to put a closure.”

He said Aquino should have thought of the impact of what she said on young Filipinos as it would confuse them on how leaders should act and “how they must stand for what they do.”

“The question is: Was wrong done? It was. Was he replaced? Yes. Are we sorry? No.”

Gordon said he admired the widow of slain opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr., who is undergoing treatment for colon cancer and rarely makes a public appearance.

But he stressed: “I cannot agree that it will be said, ‘Hey, I’m sorry that we removed you.’ You should stand by it. I can shake hands with Erap and still say that we’re friends.”

Church position

Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Lingayen-Pangasinan said all the bishops had unanimously decided to join the call made by the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin for Estrada’s resignation, “considering the prevailing circumstances.”

“Those who feel they did something wrong should ask forgiveness. But those who do not think they did nothing wrong, if they ask forgiveness, that will be hypocrisy. I, for one, do not think I made a wrong judgment at the time,” Cruz said.

“I was convinced he was not doing a good job. In fact, he was using the presidency for his personal vices, remember the midnight Cabinet, ‘jueteng,’ womanizing.

“He was convicted of plunder, so what would I say sorry for? It does not follow that just because this government is bad, I was wrong in the past. I was not wrong,” Cruz said.

The outspoken bishop also pointed out that Cardinal Sin and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines had issued a statement saying that Estrada had lost the moral authority to govern before his ouster.

Can’t be Joc-joc

Told that Aquino’s spokesperson described the apology as a jest spoken in a moment of levity after Estrada cracked jokes in his remarks at the book launch, Gordon said: “We can’t be Joc-joc all the time.”

Former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante, the alleged architect of the P728-million fertilizer scam, was detained by the Senate for a week for repeatedly lying during its hearings on the case.

“I always doubted the sophistication and politics of President Aquino. The nuances of politics, she can’t see clearly. Besides, she’s sick. I’m sorry, I hope she will not get mad at me. But you’re asking me and I have to say my opinion. As a leader, I have to say it,” Gordon said.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. shared Gordon’s view.

“No, I don’t think so. Cory will not do that. The subject matter is not one for joking. Knowing Cory, she will not say a thing without meaning it,” said the former member of the Aquino Cabinet.

‘You have to stand by it’

Asked if Aquino was ill-advised, Gordon said:

“I should not say this but I really feel for Cory because she’s sick right now. But I think she overstated the point. Maybe, what she really meant was, ‘I forgive you.’ But to say you’re sorry for having removed him, you cannot do that. You have to stand by it.”

Gordon cited the case of Japanese collaborators during World War II, who had stood their ground and willingly faced the consequences of their unpatriotic act.

“Our nation needs to have honor, regain its dignity. It’s up to our leaders to show that,” he said.

Gordon added that he had been barraged with calls and text messages since early Tuesday critical of Aquino. “My friends, including some journalists, ask me, ‘What’s happening to our country?’” he said.

The right thing

Sen. Loren Legarda said Aquino did the right thing. “There is nothing wrong in saying sorry. In fact it shows your humility, it shows your humanity.”

Legarda was in the opposition during Estrada’s impeachment trial. She is now in the same camp as Estrada.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo said he could understand why Aquino apologized to Estrada “in light of the huge public disappointment turned into outrage over the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whom she has urged to resign.”

“From a historical perspective, Edsa was an apt popular response to the turn of events in the Senate impeachment proceedings versus Estrada. The future, not the present events, will show whether Edsa II was correct or not,” Ocampo said.

“We don’t feel betrayed. It is perfectly understandable for someone like Cory to feel regret in the light of the Arroyo regime’s betrayal of the Edsa II spirit,” said Rep. Teodoro Casiño, also of Bayan, which played a leading role in the uprising.

“But this does not mean the people’s actions then were wrong, only that the regime that took over betrayed everything good that the people at Edsa fought for.”

It came much too late

Speaker Prospero Nograles said “the mea culpa statements or realization of the same were much too late, the event having occurred in early 2001 and we are soon entering 2009.”

Leah Navarro of the Black and White Movement said: “We have no regrets regarding Edsa II. Let us reflect instead on what Edsa II should have birthed—good governance. Sadly, we were betrayed by the succeeding government.”

“I stand by Edsa II. The problem is that PGMA (Ms Arroyo) did not learn the lessons of both Edsa I and II. In fact, her corruption-ridden and repressive regime betrayed the causes that people power stood for,” Gabriela party-list Rep. Liza Maza said.

Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante said Aquino should clarify whether she was apologizing for helping unseat Estrada or apologizing because she thought that people power was wrong.

“If she is apologizing that people power is wrong, then her people power was also wrong,” he said.

‘That’s dangerous’

“She has put Erap in a better position because when she apologized, she is telling the Filipino people that Erap was right, that he should not have been convicted. That’s dangerous because the court was the one which convicted him,” Abante said.

“We respect Aquino’s action to apologize to Erap for her participation in Edsa II but she is in no position to render judgment that it was wrong to oust a plunderer because he was replaced by another one,” said Ruth Cervantes, spokesperson for the human rights group Karapatan.

“If Aquino so wishes to make peace with those she has offended before cancer consumes her, then the first ones she should say sorry to are the victims of injustice in Hacienda Luisita,” Cervantes said, referring to the huge sugar plantation owned by the ex-President’s family in Tarlac province.

“She should say it was wrong that no one was made to answer for the Mendiola massacre in 1987 and it was wrong that the Cojuangcos robbed the farmers of Luisita of their land,” Cervantes said.

On Jan. 22, 1987, riot police and soldiers fired at thousands of peasants at Mendiola Bridge outside Malacañang demanding “genuine land reform” under the newly installed Aquino administration, leaving 10 farmers dead and 80 others wounded. With reports from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr., Leila B. Salaverria, Nikko Dizon and Dona Z. Pazzibugan