Aquino should learn to forgive

The Aquino administration is not letting up its barrage against  Renato Corona even after he has been ousted as Chief Justice in a Palace-initiated impeachment trial.

Corona is facing an investigation for alleged ill-gotten wealth and tax evasion, administration officials said.

One of the Inquirer’s front page headlines Friday screamed: “No mercy: Gov’t to hound Corona.”

Kicking a man when he’s down is contrary to his being a devout Catholic as  was his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino.

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I take my hat off to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada who has appealed to P-Noy to desist from filing criminal cases against the ousted Chief Justice.

Estrada said he knows the pain Corona, as well as his family, is going through after being found guilty in the impeachment trial.

The same pain was suffered by his father, Erap, who, after being ousted as President in a people power movement, was prosecuted in court and jailed.

Jinggoy is now a changed man, so different from the brash and arrogant guy I knew when he was still mayor of San Juan City.

Attaboy, Jinggoy!

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President Aquino’s hatred for his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, drove him to initiate the filing of an impeachment complaint against Corona, who was Arroyo’s midnight appointee.

This hatred for his enemies that burns in his heart might kill the President.

Heart attacks, strokes and cancer are caused by a heart full of hatred.

If he wants to live long, the President should learn to forgive.

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Look at former President Erap, a man who has every reason to hate the people who sent him to jail.

Joseph Ejercito, a.k.a. Joseph Estrada, popularly known by his nickname Erap, is in perfect health.

And to think that the guy is a heavy smoker: Two packs of nonfilter cigarettes every day.

Yet, when he had an executive medical checkup recently, he was given a clean bill of health by his doctors.

Estrada’s secret? He has forgiven all his enemies and even made friends with them.

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People who were rooting for Corona should respect the vote for acquittal of Senators Bongbong Marcos, Miriam Defensor Santiago and Joker Arroyo.

There was no right-or-wrong decision by the senator-judges.

We must remember that the impeachment trial was not an ordinary criminal trial, but a  political process.

Each senator-judge voted either according to his or her judgment of Corona’s innocence, or his or her perception of how it would affect the nation.

It so happened that the majority of the senator-judges thought  Corona’s remaining in office would adversely affect the nation.

Even if Corona was found not guilty, he would have become an inutile Chief Justice as most of the country had already adjudged him guilty.

The Chief Justice should be above reproach.