Gatecrashers

You and I know that Mikey Arroyo is as far removed from being an ordinary security guard or driver as a goat is from scuba diving, at least as far as his nomination as representative of the partylist group Ang Galing Pinoy, which claims to represent that "marginalized sector."

But you and I also know he is not the only one who has crashed into Congress by way of the backdoor called partylist system. So why is everybody ganging up on Mikey. Not that I owe Mikey anything, but hey, are we not being selectively unfair here?

Mikey, as I see it, is simply trying to charge as much as the traffic would bear, just like most everybody else who entered through the aforementioned backdoor. The partylist system, for all intents and purposes, is one wide-open highway accessible to anyone with imagination.

So unless Congress abolishes the law that opened this Pandora's Box, let us all be prepared to see a lot more Mikeys claiming to represent this or that marginalized sector. And if that sector is taken already, to invent even more fantastic representations.

In a poor country such as the Philippines, the only limit to marginalized sectors is the imagination to invent one. And it would be most unfair to Mikey if we begrudge his invention while we turn the other cheek to the other abominations.

True, Mikey is the son of you-know-who, but that cannot be part of the reason for begrudging him his share of the pie. Genetics is the new name of the game remember? Or have you quickly forgotten already? If genetics can work one way, surely it can work the other.

As the son of his mother, resourcefulness cannot be restrained from running true to form in Mikey. And other than knowing that crashing into Congress through the partylist system is easier than opening most softdrink litro bottles, he also knows it is perfectly legal.

I know people would jump at this and say that what is legal is not necessarily moral. But for God's sake, are we talking politics here or not? There is no mixing morality and politics than there is vultures and hyenas.

The truth is, the partylist system was never conceived to give equal opportunities to marginalized sectors, in the sense that their concerns would be addressed. That is already part of the mandate of the regular legislators, be they in the Senate or the House of Representatives.

The partylist system was invented as a means of accommodating and appeasing the noisy troublemakers who otherwise could never get elected in any regular means. The real marginalized just had to be thrown in to justify the ruse. That way, who is there to complain?

But of course there is a lot to complain about, especially when Filipinos started seeing every wacko and nincompoop who is not supposed to be there not only there but demanding to be addressed as honorable as well.

So, and I hate to point this out to you, if you must flog and pillory Mikey for trying to pass himself off as the "marginalized security guard" that he is not, then you must also flog and pillory every sneak who got in by similar fashion.

Again, you and I know Mikey is not what he is trying to pass himself off as to get into Congress. But he is just doing what a lot of the questionable partylist beneficiaries are doing or have done before him.

Some are trying to bring the matter over to the Supreme Court. But is it really because he could not be who he says he is, or because he is the son of you-know-who. If it is because of the latter, then let us stop all this nonsense and hypocrisy and own up.

But if it is because of the former, that we find it abhorrent for someone like Mikey to be associated with drivers and security guards, then let us also bring to question the many others who are clearly gatecrashers to Congress through our own folly.