Goodbye…for now

Last week’s black comedy would have been hilarious if it weren’t so pathetic. Many exhorted the warring Senators to zip-it-up, deploring the damage it might cause to the Senate institution.

But an “institution” is not an establishment that can be separated from those who inhabit it. There is no such phenomenon as an institution that is honorable except for its dishonorable members. They usually go hand-in-hand for better or for worse.

To think it all began with belated “Christmas gifts” that became the measure of who’s naughty or nice in the Senate President’s eyes. Nice ones got P1.6 million while naughty ones got a measly P250,000. From gifts it became “extra” maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), sounding more legitimate and less discretionary, if not arbitrary.

The gut reaction from the public was, “isn’t that the people’s money?” Shouldn’t the “savings” been better used as a donation to the Pablo victims? COA defended the practice as legal and customary. But we are wiser from past experience and know that what is legal is not necessarily moral, and the usual way is not always the right way.

Then all hell broke lose. Like mud wrestling, everyone got dirtied up. It was difficult to see who had the upper hand with all the growling, brawling and mud slinging.

The sludge has caked-up and now we see the outcome and carnage: Santiago has a bloodshot eye from her fiery TV interview. Lacson is threatening to bring administrative charges against the “crusading crook”. Trillanes still thinks Enrile should be ousted. Cayetano is going strong in his bid for reelection.

Enrile managed to hang on to the Presidency for the last six days of this bloody session. But the patina of statesmanship from the Corona impeachment is fading fast. His attack on the deceased Renato Cayetano, father of Pia and Alan, whom he revealed as owing him P37 million and the curious ranting about wood in Alan’s house were perplexing to say the least.

Enrile lost more than his cool in this bout. It seems he also lost his eyes and ears literally, when his longtime, loyal chief of staff, Jessica “Gigi” Reyes, handed her irrevocable resignation. Suddenly the “media-shy” Reyes, was in the center of the maelstrom.

In her lengthy public apology to Cayetano and other Senators, she noted: “The SP is suffering from both vision and hearing impairment. I, together with my legislative staff and his aide, assist him just to make things a bit easy for our boss who is almost 89 y.o. with age-related macular degeneration and high blood pressure problems.”

Reyes admitted, “I committed a serious ethical breach in making the remark: â€˜They are hypocrites.’ I am sorry that I was driven by my emotional state, as the Senate President and I viewed and listened while [hosts] Ms. Karen Davila and Mr. Vic Lima were obviously aghast and scandalized at Senator Cayetano’s allegations, apparently believing them to be the whole truth about the disposition of the Senate’s budget.”

 But despite her expression of regret, Reyes nonetheless reiterated, “Actually, I was reacting to Sen Alan Cayetano because as I stated, he had received similar checks from the Office of the Senate President in previous Christmases, and at that time, only Sen. Miriam Santiago had returned the equivalent amount of P250,000. I therefore found his remarks that these were questionable and irregular very puzzling and yes, hypocritical.”

She continued, “The systematic disinformation and the malevolent attacks raged on, fueled by Sen. Antonio Trillanes’ tireless pronouncements that a change in leadership was in the offing. I did not know what to make of the conspicuous silence of the other members of the majority. I grant that some of them just did not want to be embroiled in the fray.

…I had expected the other senators not so much to defend their leader, but to clarify, explain and defend their own honor and the honor of the Senate.”

For someone who has been at the periphery of politics for more than 30 years, Reyes seems a bit naïve if not onion-skinned about Senators’ general modus operandi. They are not wont to fight anyone else’s battles except their own. And as Enrile always quotes, “There are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests.”

Reyes also revealed “an honest difference of opinion” with her boss on how best to deal with the controversy over the disposition of Senate funds. She said that he could have explained how the Senate spends its P600 million MOOE funds.

She also tried to convince Enrile to resign irrevocably, which was part of the rebuttal she prepared for him to deliver after Cayetano’s privilege speech. But Enrile did not follow the script and did not step down. So she did.

“Astig!” Can a Chief-of-Staff really tell her boss to quit? Her parting shot was, “The people now believe that the Senate stinks. It is sad but I so agree. It is time to look for where the stink is actually coming from.”

Enrile continues to lash out at nemesis, Cayetano, whom he suspected of insinuating that he and Reyes are having an affair. “If they’re implying that she’s my girlfriend, well, I’m too old for that, my God!” he said in a television interview. “... from my waist up I am still doing very well, but from the waist down, well… maybe once in a blue moon, if ever.”

At a political sortie in Laguna, Enrile was quoted as saying, “Gurang na gurang na ako pero tsinitsismis pa na umiibig pa daw. Siguro mga nagsasabi, di makagawa ng anak (I am already very old but I am still rumored to be in love. Perhaps those who are saying it cannot have children).” Whatever the real score is between the two, he sure can hit below the belt.

Enrile rejected Reyes’ resignation and said he was wooing her back. “It’s irrevocable but I will convince her to come back.”  So don’t say, “Goodbye Gigi” yet.

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PS: As I did in 2010, Citizen Y will be on leave for the duration of the campaign period February-May 2013.

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