Shame and scandal in the Senate

Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. One thing you can count on our politicians to do is to plumb the depths of idiocy – and even be proud about it.

Nakakahiya. Disgraceful. Shameless. Go to Roget’s Thesaurus (is this still used?) or Google or ChatGPT to look for like-meaning words, and they’ll all apply to what happened at the Senate last week. Likewise find synonyms for idiots and miscreants and they’ll all apply to those characters who took part in that farce.

First, the formerly blustering (such bravado that he would follow his idol/boss to the ends of the earth, i.e. The Hague) senator-in-hiding apparently got hoodwinked by the coup plotter/s to finally surface at the Senate session hall because they needed his vote for the coup plot to succeed (his was the crucial 13th vote to change the Senate leadership). Like a fool he came in from wherever it was he had been hiding, chest puffed out, playing the part of the returning hero to the hilt.

A few hours later he was scampering like a rat rushing back to the safety of his mouse hole, in the process pushing aside (pumalag) two female agents who tried to restrain him and then stumbling – captured on video for all to see and snicker – while running away up three flights of stairs. He would subsequently show off his bandaged fingers – ouchies sustained in that fall – like war injuries; should he get a medal for inglorious conduct for that?

The coup completed, the dastardly plan then unfolded, according to “tweety birds” and conspiracy theorists and other experts. The chaos in the Senate, including chases through corridors and shots fired, unfolded in what some claim was a well-scripted drama to (1) allow the scampering and injured “hero” to escape back to ignominy (he did eventually escape – although his patron claimed it was not an “escape,” he “just left” – in the darkest hours before dawn, together with his moustachioed bestie) and/or (2) block the convening forthwith of the impeachment court to try the Vice President for crimes ranging from unexplained wealth to misuse of billions in confidential funds to threatening to kill the President (“No joke, no joke”); the voluminous Articles of Impeachment (no wonder it took so long to photocopy) were actually brought to the Senate on that day, with the House delivery contingent trapped in the building as the action-drama unfolded.

So now there are investigations and calls for investigations – by the ombudsman, the police, the NBI, the House, even the Senate itself. Was it an attack? A poorly-scripted drama gone haywire? Who fired first? Who came from where? Ano ba talaga, kuya? 

All that got us in to The New York Times, Al Jazeera and wire services and news media all over the world. Nakakahiya was the general sentiment, felt by every man-in-the-street and repeatedly expressed on social media, except of course for those miscreants in the Senate who continue to pontificate and issue statements through their arses. Talagang walang hiya.

Of course, you can count on the Pinoy to provide some comic relief amidst this sordid state. The reel about the three nominees for “FAMAS Best Actor,” complete with video clips, was a hoot: Joel Villanueva for his movie Flood Control (“Kaluluwa ng bayan ito!”); Bato dela Rosa for Missing in Action (“I am a senator of this Republic!”); Alan Peter Cayetano for Under Attack (“There is no question, the Senate is under attack, was under attack!”).

And how about the one of the senator’s outfit vs the table runner? A Pinoy from New York had this comment: “Dapat ibilanggo kasama yung boyfriend at sastre niya,” followed by this post: “Nahuli na raw sastre ni… sa Baclaran; kinasuhan ng Crime of Fashion.”

After those five seconds of laughter, sadly we are still confronted with the sewer that is the Senate. So they convened yesterday afternoon – forthwith nga – as an impeachment court, but wait – where was the “senator (in hiding) of the Republic?” No encore to his previous award-winning performance?

Now convened, will the trial proper proceed forthwith? Will we finally find out who Mary Grace Piattos really is and what she did with all that money given to her? Will we find out who the assassin is (and how much the job will cost if he/she carries it out)?

I will not jump to conclusions about this trial; I will try very hard to keep an open mind, as those senators are being told to do by most everyone. But we must all keep a close watch on those folks in crimson robes – and let them know we’re watching their every word, every move.

Bottom line, the blame for this sordid state ultimately is on us, the Filipino people, for allowing, even celebrating, such sickening behavior by voting those idiots into office. I’m sure there will be loud protests that “I didn’t vote for them!” but the fact is, enough of the electorate did, overwhelmingly in some cases, which says a lot about us as a nation.

And the real sad thing is that we might do so again in two years’ time.