Pedestrian Observer GB: Friends in Crisis & Corona's Case

Good friends are hard to come by but unlike family that you are stuck with whether you like it or not you have a choice on who you want to be your fiend. Unlike family that you can’t rid of because they are family friends can be discarded especially when this particular friend turns out to be a frienemy.

Of course when one finds a good friend one sticks by him/her like a pea in a pod, so the question is how good of a friend are you? A good friend is expected to stand by their friend especially when one is embattled or in a crisis. But what if your friend is embroiled in a scandal, how far will you take your friendship? What if your friend is culpable, will you still defend and fight for your friend?

When a friend is caught in a scandal as in getting involved in a corruption case, how does one handle it? I know how difficult it is, there will be those who will be judgmental without knowing all the facts. The point is what if there is basis on the accusations? Should a friend defend their friend even if that friend is likely to be guilty as charged?

There are incidents in Renato Corona’s impeachment case where I can relate. (Ok, I know what you are thinking) nah, I am so sorry to disappoint you but when I say I can relate, it is on the friendship aspect and the oppressed victims and not as the accused. I had a friend who was involved in a corruption case and sadly they were convicted. The difference is I never had to act as their PR or one of their liar brigades because they are man enough to admit their culpability. Do I still consider them as friends? Of course I still do since they have served their time and paid their debt to society. Had they fought it out would I have defended them if I knew they were guilty as hell? Obviously not and the friendship would have ended right there and then because one has to walk the talk and not talk the talk.

What has all these got to do with Corona’s impeachment? Well I was intrigued at the private message I received that originated with the image that was posted on my Facebook wall by Benito Maray below.

It seems that the image was the subject of a libel litigation where Cristina Corona won a conviction against her blood relative Jose Basa III. Someone posted a comment that Cristina won in this case who turns out to be a friend of one of Corona’s daughter. I was so taken aback because of the manner by which it was written so I responded in this manner:

True Caren, Cristina Corona "won in the libel case" she brought against her blood relatives and almost had her uncle spend some time in jail. The point is one can get convicted of libel in the Philippines even if one is telling the truth based on proof beyond reasonable doubt and not just preponderance of evidence, hehehe.

This is also the reason why there is a clamor to amend the dumb libel law in the Philippines that has become one of the tools of those in power to silence their enemies from telling the truth. In civilized society libel is a civil case while in the Philippines where corruption rule it is a criminal offense.

As if that is not dumb enough one only needs to "prove malicious intent" to get a conviction against one's enemy or those exposing corruption. Proving malicious intent is really difficult to prove when one is telling the truth but in a corrupt society, powerful individuals like the Corona's can easily influence the judge to find malicious intent when there is none.

Followed it up with this:

Oppressing blood relatives is good news to you? Is that how you treat your blood relatives too? How about friends, do you have any?

Then this, LOL:

nyeta daming tanga sa mundong ito, LOL....

She then wrote me a private message telling me of how she knows one of Corona’s daughters and knew about the BGEI controversy since she was 12 years old. That’s fine, but until she tells me what are the facts surrounding the BGEI controversy I don’t think I can take her word for it. I asked her some questions, hopefully she responds and until then it will be watch out for the next edition, LOL.

The BGEI controversy is a problem faced by some people I know and it seems that this is a common problem among Filipino Americans who owns properties in the Philippines. I even wrote a blog entry on a Filipino Canadian who was killed in the very property where he evicted the tenants and some of the comments I received in that blog is just disgusting. I have yet to encounter a Filipino American who can tell me that they have no problem with their property in the Philippines. I hear all sorts of ridiculous story thus when this GEI controversy came out, I tend to believe the side of Sister Flory.

In a society where corruption is endemic, friendship can sometimes take on a different meaning, as in “walang iwanan” the Mafiosi way. The question is are you the Mafiosi type of friend or do you draw the line?

Watch Impeachment Trial of Renato C. Corona

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