EDITORIAL - Envy, the great exposer of truth

In Tagalog they call it inggit. In Cebuano it is suya. But it all amounts to the same thing — those who are screaming their heads off over the departure of 50 congressmen to Las Vegas to see the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight are just envious.

We are kidding, of course. While everybody wanted to see the fight, public officials who hold office on the strength of a mandate should have been a little circumspect. They should have given more priority to their jobs instead of their passions.Even if they were consumed by a nationalistic passion, there are other ways of expressing that passion without having to go all the way to Las Vegas. They could have watched the fight live and still scream themselves hoarse for the four corners of the nation to hear.

But they really had to go, not for anything else, but because they can. They had the money. And they are congressmen. What person, especially if Filipino, could resist having his own way if he had the money, especially if he is a congressman.

So, kidding aside, those who are screaming their heads off over the mass departure of 50 congressmen are in fact envious. Maybe they should have left too. Or maybe, because they obviously do not like boxing as much as the 50 do, they should start liking it too.

Perhaps it is time we had a little reality check because we are pretty sure most public officials, but more especially if they are congressmen or senators, would abandon work in favor of a passion.

Come on, let us not kid ourselves. Who among the nearly two dozen senators or now close to 300 congressmen have, at one time or another, not abandoned work for even a much less compelling reason than a real passion. Come on, do not lie.

Let’s face it. We are Filipinos. We are notorious even for the simplest of things, like not being given to forming lines. At boarding time at any airport in the world, if a queue disintegrates at the gate, most certainly it got broken up by Filipinos.

So if we cannot discipline ourselves in the most basic and simplest of human demands, like forming a line, or sticking to our lane, how much more if we become wealthy politicians. Had Teddy Casiño as much passion for boxing as for protesting, he would have gone too. Peksman.