As a concerned citizen, we cannot help but wonder at the way Sen. Jinggoy Estrada handles himself at every turn on the on-going investigation of the P10 billion pork barrel scam. Either we credit him for being callous to negative public opinion or he is just being true to form because he is clean as a whistle. To this day, only four have so far been dragged in the scandal. They are Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Bong Revilla, Estrada and Gringo Honasan. The rest are yet to be tainted, if at all, by bovine odor emanating from the pork stink. Back to Jinggoy. In a press conference he presided over right after the Blue Ribbon Committee inquiry featuring Ruby Chan Tuason, former social secretary of his father Erap during his short-lived presidency, the younger Estrada, time and again, denied all the accusations that he received money from his Tita Ruby either in his house or in the Senate basement.

From the time the scam exploded in public consciousness, it was typical Jinggoy at his finest in public demeanor. Poker faced to a fault, his facial expression showed that there's nary a hint of wrong doing like stealing millions of pesos as kickbacks from his Priority Assistance and Development Fund or PDAF. Why? Does it mean that he is a master liar that doing it is already second nature to him? To an ordinary mortal, we indeed are astonished at Jinggoys protestations of innocence despite all the accusing fingers pointed from so-called whistle blowers. That Jinggoy had been through a similar incident in the past when he was dragged along with his father in a jueteng scandal that cost Erap's presidency was a testament that he was no stranger to accusations of dipping his dirty fingers in the cookie jar. Although Jinggoy was eventually cleared in the jueteng charges, the horrifying experience was his own exposure to the ordeal of a respondent in a criminal case that involved pocketing of public funds. Now that Jinggoy is in a similar bind, will he be able to pull off another spectacular escape from conviction?

To this BGlante, our educated guess is that he has at least two options. First, is face the music and prove to all and sundry that he is pure as driven snow. In the most likely event of a conviction because the present administration of P-noy is out to bag a big fish, then he can wait for a friendly government where he can avail of presidential clemency. Like his father, the son, can follow the path of pardon where Erap was practically exonerated of his sins after serving time in jail. We use the word exonerated because it indeed happened to Erap when he made his conviction as a launching pad of a political comeback to vindicate his tarnished name. He placed second in the presidential race in 2010, an indication that his political fortunes were still intact despite spending time in jail arising from charges of plunder. Erap was totally rehabilitated when he ran for Manila mayor. Despite to have known San Juan as his stronghold, he succeeded in unseating a popular Manila mayor Alfredo Lim, an incumbent at that. With Jinggoy yet to fill in the shoes of Erap as a convicted plunderer, it is still a long way to go for the young Estrada. But if fate would have it that he will be convicted of the same crime of plunder, then like father, the son, will rise from political ignominy and claim his place in the sun as a resurrected political animal.