Bully

House majority leader Neptali Gonzales should carry out his threat to have Rep. Toby Tiangco expelled from the chamber the former patrols like a fat bouncer.

Otherwise, Gonzales will lose face. Much face. As much as the actual face he appears to have grown over the years.

There are many theories about why some people’s faces seem to just grow and grow, none of them scientific. One of them is the Tagalog expression for shamelessness.

When news leaked that the impeachment defense panel will present the maverick Navotas congressman as its first witness, Gonzales started yapping like a nasty lapdog in the background. He said Tiangco might be expelled from his elected post. It was clear the majority leader was trying to intimidate the neophyte congressman, stymie whatever testimony he had to offer.

In doing what he did, Gonzales propounded on a novel theory about “legislative privilege.” He says that matters discussed in the majority caucus are confidential and ought not to be revealed.

There is a Latin word for the code of silence Gonzales wants enforced: omerta. That is a cardinal code among Mafiosi, who constantly conspire to commit crimes. Among gangsters, breaking the code of silence is unpardonable.

It is rather odd (or maybe absolutely precise) that Gonzales might want the same code of silence among criminals enforced among congressmen. The legislature is an open deliberative body of people’s representatives — in theory at least. It is not a criminal syndicate — in theory at least. In deliberative assemblies, freedom of speech is so valued it enjoys special protection in the form of parliamentary immunity.

Perhaps Gonzales would rather think of the legislature as a secretive band of criminals. If he does, I will not object.

Despite all the threats emanating from Gonzales (and Gonzales alone), Tiangco went ahead and testified before the impeachment court. There were no surprises there, except the extent of obsequiousness to their Dear Leader the majority of congressmen were capable of. They might as well have been North Koreans.

Perhaps Gonzales thinks acknowledging that obsequiousness is shameful. I agree with him wholeheartedly.

Gonzales charged that Tiangco “besmirched” the reputation of the chamber by speaking his truth. It is as if Gonzales thinks the people did not know that 188 honorable congressmen signed a document they have not seen because it was not yet written out. Consequently, the impeachment complaint turned out to be a truly strange document that alleged what could not be proved and failed to allege what could.

That rush to sign an absent document must have been a truly magical moment that will long stand in the annals of our legislative history. Not even Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the literary titan of magical realism, might have imagined something more absurd. In the case of the Congress of the Philippines, art will always pale in comparison.

The congressmen saw a Powerpoint presentation. They might have perfected the absurdity of it all by signing on to the projection screen.

Gonzales claims his colleagues in the House were “grinding their teeth” in anger over what Tiangco did. He must have meant, in correct English, that they were gnashing their teeth. Grinding of the teeth is better used to describe how congressmen masticate on their pork.

Yes, Tiangco should be expelled from the House of Representatives — but not for the brave and truthful testimony he offered the impeachment court. He should be expelled for spelling out the name of the ruling LP as Lakas Pala!

That wrongful spelling out of the great and noble ruling party’s acronym is such a crime. Gonzales might be on such a rampage because, well, the truth hurts. The majority leader must be in such terrible pain.

Gonzales, we will recall, used to be a stalwart of the Lakas when that was the ruling party. As Lakas stalwart, he performed the same role of ruthless political enforcer that he now performs for the new dispensation.

For such display of absolute obsequiousness, Gonzales was well rewarded by the previous dispensation. In addition to his regular ration of congressional pork and abundant budgetary insertions, he was able to skillfully tease out large doses of presidential pork by impressing the previous chief executive with his loyalty. He yelped and he barked on all the right cues. His teeth were always grinding.

 His district must be so proud of their representative. He was so skilled at diverting funds in his district’s name. Someday, some public administration expert might do well to analyze how effectively these funds were used.

Gonzales continues deploying the legendary skills he used to great effect in the previous dispensation to soldier on for the new dispensation. We hope he be generously rewarded by the new administration as he was by the previous one. Justice demands that.

 The man calls to mind the loyal lieutenant sent out by the warlord Cesare Borgia in Machiavelli’s classic account. Ordered to suppress a minor rebellion, he went out to slaughter the population. That caused the rebellion to spread further. Borgia, in order to appease an aggrieved community, found it eventually necessary to kill his best lieutenant with his own hands as he shed crocodile tears for the slaughtered peasants.

Gonzales should restrain his earnest bullying. His own allies are showing discomfort about this talk of expelling duly elected representatives. He might precipitate a breaking of the ranks.

He might stray across that thin line from being merely oppressive to becoming absolutely insufferable.