Ethics?

The Legislature has always held surprises for us, and no matter how jaded many of us have become, we can’t get over the antics and mud-throwing actions of some of our legislators. And we feel shamed by the way charges of malfeasance and anomalies are being hurled by one legislator after another. If the charges are meant to cleanse the senatorial Aegean stables, fine, but if they are meant to demolish the reputation of another for political reasons, i.e., to get him out of the political landscape, we wonder if there is any sense to casting our votes in the 2010 election. The official campaign period is not yet on, but already, the circus smacks of dirty politics.

I’m referring, as you know, to the eerie “duel” between senators over the alleged “unethical” decision of Sen. Panfilo Lacson circulating an order against Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. over the C-5 road project controversy. To go back to the beginning of this unhealthy scenario, a complaint had been filed by Sen. Jamby Madrigal, a close ally of Lacson, the complaint of which was based on allegations made by Lacson that Villar had committed plunder and made a double entry in the 2008 General Appropriations Act or national budget to finance Villar’s housing projects in Las Pinas and Paranaque City. Villar has strongly denied such charges.

That the Senate ethics committee would investigate the serious charges against one of the senators is fitting and proper. But the ticklish question is that Senator Lacson chairs the Senate ethics committee. Already we presume that he, being the source of Madrigal’s complaint, will make a decision damning Villar to perdition. How else would it be? How can he, as chairman of the ethics committee free Villar from allegations which he, Lacson, himself, had made?

Common sense tells us that Lacson, being the source of allegations against Villar, should inhibit himself from sitting in the ethics committee. But Lacson has not done that, in fact, he may have committed another miscue by issuing an order that Madrigal’s complaint was sufficient in form and substance, and that Villar should submit his answer to Madrigal’s complaint – even before a committee hearing was held.

Senators Villar and Lacson were shown on television as two very angry middle-aged men. These two have declared themselves as presidential candidates in the 2010 election. Now you see why the enmity between the two of them. Villar declared that he would not submit himself to the ethics panel which he called a “kangaroo court.”

Things have so come to a head that other members of the Senate agreed to a “ceasefire” over the issues raised against Villar before the ethics committee. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, wrote Aurea Calica of The Philippine STAR, said that the ceasefire would allow the senators to resolve the questions surrounding the decision of the ethics committee investigating the charges against Villar.

Wrote Calica: “Instead of calling it a stalemate or a deadlock, Enrile along with Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said they would let cooler heads prevail during a caucus to avoid further showdown on the floor that could delay the approval of legislative measures.”

Pimentel and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, also a member of the minority, would ask the presidential hopefuls to be removed from the ethics panel.

Characteristically, and adding comic relief to the hot situation, feisty Sen. Miriam Santiago Defensor suggested that Villar and Lacson could end the controversy by engaging in a duel. Seriously, though, she said, “It is not a pretty sight for two presidentiables to be conducting open warfare. But let me warn the public also: this is only the beginning. You have not seen the immensity and the depravity that attend character assassination.”

* * *

What a great lunch wife Aning Sy and her children Jeanne, Josie, Jun and Jojo gave to celebrate industrialist Julio Sy’s 76th birthday the other Sunday. Only relatives and close family friends were invited to the lunch that cosmopolite businesswoman Jeanne had so gingerly planned for the occasion. The atmosphere was congenial, and what was so inspiring about the family is their obvious affection for their dad, a quiet and humble man. Don Julio’s brothers were there, as were the livewire grandchildren and great grandchildren. To her children’s pleasant surprise, their irrepressible mother, Aning, sang for her husband an Elvis Presley number: “Love me tender, love me sweet…”

For entertainment, Allan Dale Alojipan and Jenny Villegas of BROaDWay BaBIES sang Broadway hits. The group, organized by Martin Z. Lopez, is made up of young and talented theater artists (specifically from Repertory Philippines) who have bonded together to form a caroling group that dedicates part of its collection to a charity or beneficiary. Last year it took part in an outreach program hosted by the Reyna ng mga Apostoles Parish in Taguig which provided for the ‘poorest of the poor” donation buckets with P500 worth of rice, canned goods, spaghetti and sauce.

I met Allan when he was just that high, at the Church of the Risen Lord in UP Diliman which our families attended. Allan has always been a theater-person, and he naturally fell into the arms of Repertory and singing artists’ groups. He told me at the lunch for Mr. Sy that in the past three years, BROaDWaY BaBIES has given to the Silang Orphanage and a Christmas fund-raising drive called “Decorating for Education,” a project initiated by the Royal Gamet Branch of Pru Life UK which provides scholarships to 14 indigent kids under its family and children’s education development (FCED) program.

The group has performed at intimate family dinners, including KC Concepcion’s surprise party for her mom Sharon Cuneta. It is now expanding its repertoire to suit different occasions other than just Christmas. Contact the group through Martin Lopez at [email protected] fax no. (63-2) 7364897.

My email: [email protected]