What I Learned from Erap’s Life

What I Learned from Erap’s Life

(Babble On, for the Sunstar Davao, Sept. 14, 2007)

The decision is out and Erap has been declared guilty of plunder by the Sandiganbayan. Looking at his life, one can’t help but wonder at how quickly Erap rose to power, and how quickly he fell. His story is definitely one for the history books. From becoming President via the largest landslide election margin in history, he became a criminal sentenced to prison for the rest of his life.

So what are the lessons one can learn from his story?

1.) Choose Your Friends Wisely – Erap was said to have a group of friends that were always around during the good times. The so-called “Midnight Cabinet” would stay up at the Presidential Palace with him till the wee hours of the morning, drinking and carousing. These friends took advantage of Erap’s position of power through countless anomalous transactions. These were the people Erap thought would be with him through thick and thin. But where are they now? Few of the “Midnight Cabinet” remain loyal, and almost none of them were by his side when he was declared guilty. In fact, some members of this “cabinet” were the reason for his downfall! It is in the difficult moments in one’s life that one learns who his true friends are. Erap has just learned who his true friends are, and none of the Midnight Cabinet is included among them.

2.) Don’t Steal – This is painfully obvious now. Don’t steal, or cheat nor take the money of the people and government. There are strong laws that punish theft already, and even more laws that punish one if the theft involves government money. It isn’t worth it. Just look at the guy with a sentence of reclusion perpetua.
3.) Sleep Early – Erap gained a reputation as an unproductive president. This is because he would sleep absurdly late and wake up around noon or later. This would be fine if he ever got any work done, after all, even Winston Churchill slept and woke up late, and we know how effective he was as a leader. But the problem was that Erap would have a hangover from his nights with his “Midnight Cabinet.” He was horribly unproductive as a President because of those late nights from lack of sleep and booze. This affected the public’s perception of him and helped lead to his downfall.

4.) Avoid Wine and Women- I like wine. And I like women too (I should, after all, I am in love with one!), but too much wine and too much women are obviously bad for you. Not only would you have hangovers to deal with from the wine, but juggling the multitude of women/lovers would cause you no end of trouble, not to mention the fact that having several women (none of whom is your wife) is immoral in almost every culture. A lifestyle of too much wine and women seemingly every night led to great dissatisfaction with Erap’s Presidency and played a critical role in uniting the opposition against him.

5.) Be Honest – Erap tried to hide the truth behind different names in his bank accounts. He also tried to hide the truth when he had his cronies in the Senate vote against the opening of the envelope. We all know how keeping the envelope closed worked out. It directly sparked EDSA II, and deposed him. If Erap had been honest in the first place, especially with the opening of the envelope, which didn’t contain important information anyway, perhaps none of this would have happened. In a way, Erap shot himself in the foot.

These are lesson Erap has obviously learned the hard way. He had to pay a steep tuition to learn all this. Let’s hope other politicians can learn from Erap’s life. Otherwise, there may be more hard lessons to come.