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Friday, August 12, 2005
Roperos: When two ‘felines’ meet
By Godofredo M. Roperos
Politics Also
At the congressional hearing the other day on the three bills that seek the "dismemberment" of the poor island of Cebu, two of the province's lady politicians met. Both were armed with quite acidic tongues enough to dissolve any unsuspecting soul caught in the crossfire.
News reports about the encounter were amusing to us, if not pathetic in the sense that, first, it was a face up of youth and age and between political experience and inexperience.
While political wiliness and shrewd psy-war skill was noticeable in the older protagonist, the younger one showed a cold, calculating sense.
They were, in the observant eye of a colleague in the media community, like two lovable felines competing on which has the sharpest claws, the slickest fur, and the most enticing color mix and design on their natural coat.
What seems disturbing, if I may so, is that the encounter was not unlike having a family quarrel brought to the town square for public airing.
No, I don't want to use the cliché "dirty linen," for the matter at issue is hardly about it but is one more serious and bears heavily on the "life" and "death" of a province. It is about an island's geographical integrity.
This is the meat of the issue over which the two lovely political felines in our joyous unsuspecting little island are going to claw each other's face. To the elder one, for the honor of dismembering it. To the younger one, for the honor of continuing to keep it whole.
For the average island inhabitant, it is probably time to consult the Magic Mirror. "Mirror, mirror, on the House's hearing room wall, who's the fairer between them we can fall for?"
But flippancy aside, the matter of skewering Cebu into four parts generates a gory and violent image in the mind, aside from forcing us to grow sentimental over the thought.
My dear island has withstood the ordeal of centuries of sun, wind, typhoon, erosion, over-flooding, deforestation, slash and burn farming, and all sorts of abuse from all sorts of human deeds. But in one clear show of personal political whim, my dear island has been placed on the cutting block, like a butchered hog prepared for swift dismemberment.
How would the meat be made to last to satisfy the "hunger" for personal power of some petty politicians?
That, dear brothers and sisters, would depend on the outcome of the face-off between the two lady politicians and their coterie of supporters before the technical committee tasked to collate the pros and cons of the three bills that provides how the dismemberment of Cebu would be done.
I daresay it is really time for the tiniest Cebuano voice to be heard. And heard it would be, if the reported church survey of the parishes in the province would come out as expected--a strong opposition to the move to skewer the island.
My guess is that, if the survey result would turn out as expected, there's going to be a forced change in tact. It would become a question of political survival to the bills' authors, and the Magic Mirror on the House hearing room wall might give an advanced prediction of the outcome.
But let us not preempt the technical committee's report. These days, it is difficult to foresee what goes on in a politically oriented mind.
(August 12, 2005 issue)
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