Ex-convict Erap addresses graduates

Pardoned former President Joseph Estrada recently addressed the some 600 graduates of the Partido State University in Goa, Camarines Sur which he helped establish seven years ago and said “I also ‘graduated’ from detention in more than six institutions like Camp Crame, Veterans Memorial and my own beloved alma mater, the Tanay University.” Estrada, a college dropout of the Ateneo de Manila, said “This is a signal honor for me because it is not often that a prestigious institution such as yours would invite an ex-detainee and an ex-convict to be the commencement speaker.

I am happy, however, to be an ex-convict who is close to the people than a president isolated in Malacañang.” Estrada congratulated the graduating students, their families, and faculty members who were sweating under heated galvanized iron sheets at the university gym and an extended shade of tarpaulin sheets. But the former president added: ‘I cannot come to terms, however, that I was removed only to be replaced by a corrupt administration which to this very day has refused to be accountable and to be transparent. “Today, I am saddened that the regime that so arrogantly promised our people good governance has remained insensitive to the conditions and plight of the majority of our people. It is a government that has isolated itself in the web of lies and deception from our people, protected by containerized vans and electric fences in Malacañang.

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