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August is over, and throughout the month the guns were trained not on the administration but on Sen. Panfilo Lacson. Such is the art of war.

The Senate is busy with Ping; the House is busy with the military’s performance in Basilan. Now a senator wants to investigate allegations of poll fraud in the May elections. Will the "guns of August" become the "guns of September"?

If only our senators and congressmen would exhibit as much zeal in lawmaking as in conducting investigations. Real legislation, however, can be a drudgery, and you don’t get day-long live coverage on national TV. 2004 is just three years away – it’s never too early to start the campaign for re-election.

Sometimes this hankering for grandstanding can backfire. Look how senators are now scratching their heads, wondering how they can terminate their investigation of Lacson without becoming the subject of ugly text jokes until 2004. Even the handful of decent senators can’t shoot back at the jueteng collector and bagman of a former president who’s threatening to stage people power III (and you thought we’ve had EDSA Tres) if the Senate ended its probe of Lacson.

Reports yesterday said the Senate is planning to say bye-bye to Angelo "Ador" Mawanay, while the National Bureau of Investigation has junked an alleged new witness called Mar because he was just another Ador. Don’t worry, the Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines will welcome Mar with open arms. Wait for Mar to be recycled into yet another star witness.

But the Senate still has Danny Devnani and Mary "Rosebud" Ong. The two have implicated many other individuals apart from Lacson in serious crimes. Will the Senate again summon Erap to comment on Devnani’s claims? What about the police officers named by Rosebud?

In the past we enjoyed these circuses in court. Now, thanks to the Senate, we can enjoy the trial even before the formal indictment. Why, we even meet the accused and the witnesses even before we can be sure exactly what crime has been committed.

Admit it, this is the best soap opera since Erap’s impeachment trial. And people are going to be mad as hell if the Senate terminates the show. Just pray you won’t one day end up in the center of that circus, as the clueless accused.

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How does the Senate deal with people who will settle for no less than Lacson’s ouster from the chamber as a result of this inquiry? They think this is another impeachment trial. Unfortunately, there’s no Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. to provide sanity and direction to this investigation. And how will the Senate deal with the people who voted for Lacson last May, and who don’t being relish being told that they made an idiotic choice?

At any rate, Lacson should welcome any congressional investigation. As long as the principal accuser, military intelligence chief Victor Corpus, chooses Congress as the venue for his accusations, Lacson can always claim that Corpus doesn’t have enough evidence to file a case in court.

Lacson’s bigger problems are his pending court cases. Today formal charges are expected to be filed against him for illegal wiretapping, perjury and graft in connection with the confiscation of electronic surveillance equipment. Mary Ong’s accusations against him, many of which she has been hurling since the Estrada administration, are also expected to end up in court. The NBI is reportedly planning to tap Devnani as a witness in the disappearance of casino employee Edgar Bentain, among other cases. Then there’s the Kuratong Baleleng case, which is still alive before the Supreme Court.

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As for the House of Representatives, what did its members expect businessman Reghis Romero II to say yesterday? Why should he change his story, even if it’s full of holes, that he didn’t ransom his way to freedom from the Abu Sayyaf? Unless Abu Sabaya talks, Romero can’t be charged with lying before the honorable members of the House of Representatives. And even if there’s proof that he perjured himself, what will the House do with him, a kidnap victim who did what he could to win his freedom? Put him in jail? Bar him forever from running for a seat in Congress?

If Romero wants to protect the person widely suspected to have brokered the alleged ransom payment, I don’t know how he can be forced to talk. It was his life on the line, and it was his money.

Now there’s a report that the House wants to conduct its own probe of the allegations of Corpus, and may summon Mawanay. Will you all please give us a break.