Limlingan: Lapid’s Committee

Thursday, February 2, 2012

WHO says Senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid is chair of the Senate’s Committee on Silence?

The gentleman from Pampanga has finally spoken: not a movie script, but a question addressed to the prosecution in the ongoing impeachment trial against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

Since he threw his hat in the political ring, Senator Lapid has been known as a silent-type. He rarely makes impromptu speeches but when he is pushed against the wall, he just reads a brief but prepared message. Even in his political “miting de advances” and caucuses during campaign seasons, his presence is more than enough to get votes for his victory.

While he acts well reading his scripts in the movies perfectly, he is the hushed-type in real life. When casually speaking, he has a low-toned, low-profiled voice. Apt in his campaign slogans is the ever reliable: “ditak a salita, dakal a gawa”.

Last Wednesday, during the 10th day of the trial, he called the attention of the presiding officer to be recognized – and in the process catching the attention of almost everyone on the floor and the audience. Members of the media were likewise aroused when the gentle Senator held the microphone seeking recognition from the Senate President.

As he approached the podium, “O ba’t nagtatawanan na naman kayo (Why are you laughing again)?” the Senator asked in a jolly mood, perhaps in anticipation of the scenario that many will be all eyes on him.

The Senators’ questioning of Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali was made when Benito Cataran, company registration and monitoring department director of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), was on the witness stand.

Prosecutor Umali was trying to prove that Corona obtained ill-gotten wealth through the Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc., owned by his wife’s family in 2003, the year he got an P11-million loan from the firm.

Lapid’s first question was, “Ano ang pagkakaiba ng cash advance sa loan, sa utang (What is the difference between a cash advance, a loan and a debt)?”

The Presiding Officer then asked Senator Lapid, “Who are you asking?” and he was answered by the latter that the question is addressed to the prosecutor. Umali responded that Corona and his wife were not shareholders of Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc.

Senator Lapid then reacted “Kanina pa kayo tanong ng tanong, yan lang ang gusto nyong malaman? Kung yung 11 million cash advance, inutang o loan?” Perhaps the lowly Senator would want the questioning to be straightforward without any of the dilatory gobbledygook.

Being a mere high school graduate and having not any legal background, he must have been bored by the proceedings since too many legal and technical terms were said by the prosecution and defense panels and the senator-judges. He has a point anyway that everything in the proceedings should be made brief without much of the delays caused by some “actors and actresses” on the floor who are merely grandstanding.

Not all those who watch the impeachment proceedings are lawyers or even mere law students. Many ordinary citizens monitor the trial every afternoon. A common observer is often bored when lawyers battle it out on the floor.

Because of Senator’s Lapid brief “stunt” at the Senate floor, he became more popular than he is as a Senator. He might be relinquishing his Committee on Silence chair soon until the impeachment ends.

After all, he knows how to throw serious questions too aside from daggers and bullets as seen in his movies.