On September 12, the six-year old plunder case against former president Joseph Estrada has ended. Now, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants the Philippines to move on. But the guilty verdict of the Sandiganbayan seems to only make her dream of a united country far from her reach.

Erap (Estrada�s nickname), despite being ousted in 2001 through a people power revolution, continues to enjoy positive popularity and public sympathy, evidence of which was his sought-after endorsement during the 2004 and 2007 elections.

Many Filipinos, most of whom were members of the urban poor, still support the deposed president and believe that he was innocent of the crime the court convicted him of. In the third quarter survey of the Social Weather Station conducted just the week before the verdict came out, majority or 57 percent of Filipinos expected Estrada to be acquitted.

Aling Julie, a sidewalk vendor, believes that the actor-turned-president was framed up by former Ilocos Sur Governor Luis �Chavit� Singson. According to her, Singson, who was motivated by his political ambitions, conspired with the current administration to put Estrada down.

There are also other concerns which prevents the country from forgetting the Estrada plunder case. While the Sandiganbayan ruling is commendable, as it shows that the justice system works and that it was a first time in history that a president was convicted of a crime, there are people who, while not necessarily supporters of Estrada, were not convinced that the conviction was all due to the evidence working against him. Critics of President Arroyo think that the ruling was politically motivated, and its aim was to legitimize the current administration.

Minority Floor Leader Ronaldo Zamora argues that if a conspiracy to commit plunder was indeed committed, why then were Jose �Jinggoy� Estrada and lawyer Edward Serapio, who were the former president�s co- accused in the case, both acquitted. �When you charge three defendants with conspiracy, how do you end up acquitting two and finding the third one guilty?� he said.

In an interview with Newsbreak, De La Salle University Political Science professor Allen Surla says that what the ruling did was to buy time for the Arroyo administration.

�It would be better for the administration to let the issue drag for several more years. By the time the SC comes up with a final ruling, it would no longer have any impact on the Arroyo administration, whether it�s favorable or unfavourable, � Surla said.

Some are skeptic about the sincerity of the government in convicting Estrada. Was the verdict just for the show? If the government is serious in its goal of punishing its erring officials, it would not readily offer and grant the convicted plunderer pardon or amnesty. Doing so would defeat the purpose six-year trial held to prove his wrongdoings.

The justice system worked this time, but a question remains: will it work next time? Bayan Muna representative Teddy Casino said that �it [the conviction] should serve as a warning to other high government officials including the president.� The Sandiganbayan ruling should not be the end in itself, but rather be just the starting point of the effort to clean-up the scandal- filled political system.

The Filipino people can forgive, but not yet forget. There is still the fertilizer scam, the Diosdado Macapagal highway controversy, the extrajudicial killings, the �Hello Garci� scandal or the national broadband deal, among many other things, which they have to face.