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Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Ajero: Digs, the instant villain
By Antonio M. Ajero
Calidarium
A product of the famous Ateneo de Manila law school, Digs was fiercely pro-Erap, only because he thought that the guy who got the highest number of votes for president in Philippine history had been illegally ejected from office. In fact, he said, he was running for senator on the platform of rule of law.
IF YOU ask Filipinos nowadays who's their favorite contra vida, most of them would probably say Rep. Didagen Dilangalen, my modern-day version of the stormy petrel in the Congress of yore.
Dilangalen is the guy who's associated with the now infamous "Shut up! Shut up!" incident in the joint Senate-House national canvass.
His was an outburst in reaction to a note handed to him by a House page from a lady in the gallery asking him to shut up, referring to his frequent questioning of the proposed rules in the canvass.
The gentleman from Maguindanao felt insulted and was further incensed when his colleagues gave a cold shoulder to his proposal to cite the woman in contempt.
The incident made Mr. Dilangalen the instant villain of the tri-media and the exasperated public.
In fairness to Digs, I found the guy likeable and very intelligent during the one and only time I met him a month and a half before the May 10 elections. A product of the famous Ateneo de Manila law school, Digs was fiercely pro-Erap, only because he thought that the guy who got the highest number of votes for president in Philippine history had been illegally ejected from office. In fact, he said, he was running for senator on the platform of rule of law.
I don't quite agree with a lady columnist who branded Dilangalen's outburst as "obnoxious." In my book, it was righteous indignation at best and unparliamentary behavior at worst. Fortunately for Digs he has no monopoly of the latter. In the raucous debates on the proposed rules of the national canvassing, he was in the same league as two of my idols in Congress - Rep. Teddyboy Locsin and Sen. Joker Arroyo, both gentlemen from Makati.
At one time, Locsin called the discussions "silly and stupid." When House majority leader Neptali Gonzales Jr. asked that the terms be stricken from the records of the historic Congress proceedings, Locsin nonchalantly offered the less frequently used word "vacuous", which means basically the same, "showing lack of thought or inteligence; mindless."
When Sen. Nene Pimentel proposed that the rules state that members of the joint canvassing committee work at least eight hours a day, Senator Arroyo, disregarding usual diplomatic and gentlemanly language, stood up and rudely stated "Let's not kid ourselves, we don't work that long here in Congress.
We only work three hours a day" and added that canvassing was the task of "glorified school teachers."
To which Pimentel protested that Arroyo's statement in effect demeaned the school teachers and their noble profession.
I don't begrudge the three for being less gentlemanlike in their language. In present-day society which has become very permissive, it is now forgivable to use direct and sometimes bold language if only to ensure that the message is received and understood clearly by your audience. Even at home sometimes, parents have to use forceful if not angry words in order to be heard and understood by their kids.
The most lamentable is of course the demise of courteous and civil language in broadcasting, specifically radio. In Davao City, it took only one uncouth announcer and a tolerant management conscious of ratings to begin a revolution of foul language in broadcasting here. Having heard of how listeners love it, broadcasters in other areas followed suit. And then broadcasting was never the same again.
Honestly, I have a sneaking suspicion unfair, foul language is partly responsible for the untimely demise of some of this country's broadcasters.
(June 1, 2004 issue)
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