Seducing Lacson, securing Drilon

On the eve of the President’s State-of-the-Nation Address, senators already revealed what it was: Politics as usual, what else? On one hand is an Opposition minority posturing to snub today’s affair. On the other is an Administration majority wooing archenemy Panfilo Lacson into its ranks.

"Politics is addition," Juan Flavier justifies Senate President Franklin Drilon’s Lothario offer to Lacson to chair any committee he fancies. Neither Drilon as LP chairman nor Flavier as Lakas vice chief see it as potential subtraction.

Politicians are known to have such short memories, shown by how they forget campaign promises as soon as elected. In the majority’s case, it omits that Lacson stands accused of heinous crimes, which makes him a liability. Lacson is charged with multiple murder in the Kuratong Baleleng massacre, where two minors were killed, and $2 million plus P52 million in bank-robbery loot went missing. He is impleaded in kidnapping-for-ransom of the family of a suspected Chinese drug lord. A third complaint is for kidnapping-with-murder of a publicist and his driver. All three cases are mired in technical bogs laid down by Lacson and his co-accused. But trial may proceed anytime soon, and he could be found guilty. In which case, the Senate majority would be hard put to explain what Lacson is doing on its side.

The wooing is made all the more ironic by the fact that the majority itself had wanted Lacson indicted for the heinous as well as lesser crimes. The Senate had heard testimonies of more than a dozen witnesses in 2001 on Lacson’s drug trafficking, money laundering, smuggling and non-filing of Statements of Assets and Liabilities. He denied the charges, to be sure, but only through press releases. Three committees voted for prosecution, but party switching by two senators stalled approval in plenary session. To this day Lacson is accused of falsifying documents in the Senate and abusing parliamentary immunity. Drilon and Flavier, the President Pro Tempore, seem eager to overlook all this.

Spirit of reconciliation supposedly guides the seduction of Lacson. But as Alfred Smith once remarked of senatorial actions, "No matter how thinly you slice it, it’s still baloney." Drilon and Flavier would be credible if they talk less about seeing the light of reconciliation than feeling the heat of political survival. The majority presently counts 14 members. The minority, according to Laban head Edgardo Angara, is only all of eight. He discounts Lacson, whom Laban had expelled for running for president last May against its official candidate. Picking up the discarded Lacson would not only bring the majority strength to 15, but also cement Drilon’s lasting leadership of the chamber.

Not all LP and Lakas senators approve of Drilon’s recruiting. They suspect he is only out to snatch Lacson from Manuel Villar, actually first to play footsie with Lacson who was then campaigning in his Muntinlupa-Las Piñas bailiwick. Drilon has since inked a power-sharing deal with Villar, with the former holding on as Senate President until 2005, and the latter taking over until both their terms end in 2007. Joker Arroyo, a Villar supporter, fears that Drilon would renege. He saw the portent when LP members Rodolfo Biazon and Mar Roxas said they will not abide by the deal because they are not parties to it. Meaning, Arroyo said, the two will still vote for Drilon when Villar’s turn at the top came up. To have Lacson on Drilon’s side, enjoying a committee chairmanship which his erstwhile minority colleagues would never get, would seal the treachery.

That the wooing is all for power lust could be gleaned from Miriam Santiago’s break from the majority on the SONA’s eve, bringing Drilon’s strength down to 13. She had run under the Administration coalition, but now prefers to be an independent. After all, despite everything she said in campaign, she claims to never have promised to stick with her allies. She had once been with the Opposition, too, describing Angara’s candidate as sincere, before jumping to the other side and calling him a simpleton. Now she says in all candor that she can’t stand both the majority and minority. "An honest politician," Simon Cameron had defined, "is one who, when bought, stays bought." Still, Santiago never liked Drilon, with whom she has been vying for political control of their Iloilo province, It was most likely in anticipation of Santiago’s departure that Drilon began wooing Lacson, who also claims roots to Iloilo.

In leaving the majority, Santiago had harsh words for all senators. Said she: "In the Senate there are no norms and no laws. It’s total lack of principle. I can’t tolerate the absolute commitment to greed, selfishness, and the shameless ambition to hold positions for which many, or at least most of them, are not qualified." If those words apply to Drilon and Flavier, only she can say. The two, since rising to their top positions in 2001, have shown not only staying power, but sly ability to dole power as well.

Whether they will succeed in enticing Lacson over has yet to be seen. All the public can do, meanwhile, is wait. After all, as Will Rogers said, "Legislators are like animals in the zoo. You can’t do anything about ‘em, except stand and watch ‘em."

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