EDITORIAL - What has the Senate fallen into?

The Senate is no stranger to bombast. It has traditionally been the home of the great orators in Philippine politics. And because Filipinos often believe great oratory indicates great leadership, they often turn to the Senate as a source of the country's leaders.

Ferdinand Marcos, Benigno Aquino Jr., Gerry Roxas, Jovito Salonga. These are but some of the illustrious names who have distinguished themselves as great orators and speakers, and who became some of our most memorable leaders.

The Senate floor has become a sort of crucible upon which were tested, in the heat of great debates, some of the most explosive exposés and controversies that resulted in some of the finest laws the land being created.

Unfortunately, the prestige of the Senate has declined over the years, not only because of the plummeting qualifications of those who got elected to it, but also because of the diving quality in the kind of bombast that people used to expect from politicos.

Today, there are no great speakers in the Senate, no great orators. There are even some who do not open their mouths at all, which on hindsight is providential, considering the inanities that could have proceeded from their mouths had they dared to do otherwise.

Nevertheless, the Senate has not become devoid of debates. There is still always noisy debate on the Senate floor, but none for reasons that used to prop the Senate as one of the great institutions of the land.

Today, the Senate has become a forum for grandstanding, for nit-picking, and for harassing and humiliating. While before it was an honor and a privilege to be invited, today it is an agony that provokes great fear.

The recent exchanges between senators Panfilo Lacson and Jinggoy Estrada are quite a spectacle, not for the brilliance of the issues, but because of the sorry misappropriation of the Senate's time between a pot and a pan.

Television coverage of the mudslinging invariably shows the pained looks on the faces of the other senators who are forced to endure the heat on their buttocks to listen to charges and counter-charges between birds of the same feather.