La Mancha or Manchado

After the bashing and trashing that Senator Antonio Trillanes received from Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, I wonder if “The Phantom of Philippine Politics” will rise from the ashes and come out as the “Man from La Mancha” who dared the impossible dream of unseating Enrile by his lonesome self, or will Trillanes forever be “Manchado” or stained by the accusations hurled by Enrile?

Philippine history has enough characters who have been accused of selling out to US expeditionary forces, hanged for cooperating with the Japanese, after World War II others were accused of being the underlings of the US colonizers, fronts and stooges of American businessmen and in recent times labeled as paid operators of taipans, tycoons and “Typhoons.” If it’s any consolation to Trillanes, God gave humans only enough blood to operate the stomach or the brain, or in the case of most men, only enough blood to use their brains or their penis. So when priorities set in, people tend to forget.

As I listened to Senator Enrile’s “counter punch” to Trillanes’ privilege speech, I could not help recalling two lessons that oddly compliment each other: first is “Thou shall honor thy father and thy mother so that all may go well with you and that you may have a long life.” The second lesson is: “Youth and good looks will always be defeated by experience and deceit.”

Whatever grumbling or serious accusations Trillanes may have had against Senator Enrile, he committed the mistake of forgetting the code of the “Officer and Gentleman.” Unless he intended to challenge Enrile to a “Duel with pistols at twenty paces,” Trillanes should have honored the code. Whether at home or at the academy or inside the senate hall, one must always honor those in authority.

In this particular case, Trillanes entered the ring without the training of a Matador, no sword in hand and obviously no stomach to stay for the kill. It was folly on the part of Trillanes to handle Enrile as an 88-year-old bull, because this bull was still trampling Trillanes’ reputation long after the “Novato” scampered out of the ring.

If Trillanes had only spent more time reading the lessons from the Bible like some of his former cellmates did, “the young whipper snapper” would have known that one does not go to battle without studying the enemy and considering the cost. Enrile had actively been in the pit of business and politics when Ferdinand Marcos became Senator, two-term president and ultimately “dictator.” Enrile outsmarted and outlived Marcos, survived Cory Aquino’s dislike, waltzed with Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo and now Noynoy Aquino. He is not one of the country’s longest standing politicians merely by knowing his law.

At the very least, Trillanes should have taken notes or consulted with Senator Gringo Honasan on how to best approach his problems with JPE. Honasan has survived as much testing and tribulation but unlike Trillanes, Honasan clearly learned from each episode and moved forward. Unfortunately, it seems that his many years in the stockade did not teach Trillanes patience, self-control and wisdom.

I’m sure that there will be a flood full of analyses and commentaries concerning the Trillanes Massacre so I won’t venture directly into the politics of the matter. Suffice it to say that both sides have valid accusations as much as serious error in judgment, which I suspect will ultimately be at the cost of the Senate, our current political stability as well as damaging to our foreign policy and both senators will share or must share the blame. However righteous or correct their personal and political sentiments may be, their very public spat dragged the business of the Republic into the palengke!

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Only a week ago Trillanes was marching to the tune of the Ilocano agenda masterfully being orchestrated by Senator Enrile. Back then, Trillanes gave his all out support to block or dilute the proposed sin taxes, even going to the extent of mimicking the propaganda of a tobacco company executive who suggested that taxes should also be imposed on pork because it’s bad for our health.

Now that he got more than a rejection slip, will Trillanes still stand by the Ilocano lobby, and how will his trashing and bashing affect his vote or position on the RH bill?

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Last Wednesday evening, I had the pleasure of attending an event hosted by the officers and staff of Standard Insurance, which I learned is the dominant insurance company as far as motor vehicle insurance is concerned. Before the event I already heard some good things about Standard Insurance such as how easy they are to deal with when it comes to claims as told to me by Alvin Uy of PDI motoring and Willy Teeten of Mini Cooper. I also learned that unlike most companies that only insure cars that are up to five or six years old, Standard has a program that provides insurance for cars of up to 12 years old, if not older depending on the history and track record of the client.

But what I didn’t know was that the company is actually an all Filipino company from the day it was established by Dr. Romeo Echauz in 1958, then turned over to his son Mr. Ernesto Echauz in 1994, who in turn passed the torch to his daughter, Patty Echauz-Chilip who has been the company’s CEO since October 2009. It was also interesting to learn of an all Filipino company that actually took over a “foreign owned subsidiary” Zurich General Insurance previously owned by Zurich Financial Services. This is certainly a “sariling atin” company that deserves Pinoy support.