Private interest

As expected our Senators opted to proceed with the investigation of the Jose Pidal controversy.They have to, since they already accomodated the demand of their colleague Panfilo Lacson to conduct a probe in the first place. So "kahiyaan na" if they will not finish what they started.To our Senators, it does not matter if Lacson abruptly left them behind after dropping his "bombshell". Anyway, the expose apparently clicked with the credulous and unwary masa, thanks to the obliging media. Never mind if it is bereft of hard evidence as long as it is sensationally juicy and abundant in political "bomba" that whets widespread curiosity. Our Senators believe that this curiousity must be satisfied because it is imbued with "public interest".Really?

Public interest is something in which the legal rights and liabilities of the community at large are affected, something in which the public has some pecuniary interest.It does not mean anything so narrow as mere curiosity which may be affected by the matters in question (Black’s Law Dictionary). As long as Lacson’s claims remain unsubstantiated,Jose Pidal and his bank deposits remain mere objects of curiosity.Any Senate inquiry into them is not in aid of legislation.It is an inquiry out of mere nosiness aroused by political muckraking from snooping politicians with selfish political ambitions. Unless Lacson lodges his charges in a judicial instead of a political body where he has no parliamentary immunity,his expose will always be branded as a political gimmick.It cannot be fully clothed with public interest especially if his evidence cannot stand in court as it now appears.

It is really sad that our Senators chose not to spare us from too much dirty politicking. They would rather ride on the popularity of a purely political issue to satisfy the public’s mere curiosity than stop all these wasteful political bickerings that cause nothing but harships and miseries on our land.

We have an overdose of politics this early because of too frequent elections.In fact our elected officials start campaigning right after they win the election. Ours is a country with non-stop campaigning in between elections. The tragedy is that our politics is not based on principles and platforms but only consists of one vicious struggle between the "ins" and the "outs" with the outs throwing as much political dirt just to get in.

President GMA’s announcement last year not to run is precisely to have a moratorium on politics to get us out of the doldrums.But our politicians do not want to heed her call.No one should blame her now if she changes her mind.The politicians pushed her to a spot where she has to carry on the fight.

Under our present situation where there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, the Con Ass Cha-Cha with No-el is becoming to look like a much better alternative.After all our present electoral system still needs a lot of refinement before we can truly say that we deserve the kind of government we have.

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