Saturday, February 03, 2007 Maxey: The more, the crazier By Ram Maxey Bar None
OKAY, one more movie personality has signified his intention to run for a Senate seat. Following the example of popular movie actor Cesar Nontano, along comes Richard Gomez saying he also wants to become a senator of the republic. Just like that.
But "wanting" is not the same as "becoming." The electorate, including those who can "fly" from one precinct to other precincts where their names also appear as registered voters, will have something to say about that. But that's another story.
The immediate reaction of skeptics to the decision of entertainment personalities to seek public office -- in this instance, no less a Senate seat -- is: "Who does he think he is?"...or "Why he?"
But Richard Gomez, a.k.a. "Goma," is pretty sure of himself as not only a vote getter, but also as a potential lawmaker. He points to fellow stars of the entertainment world who made it to the Senate, like Ramon Revilla Sr., the latter's son "Bong" Revilla, Erap's son, Jinggoy Estrada and Tito Sotto.
So what if the aforementioned senators failed to make waves as lawmakers? After all, they also serve who only sit in silence -- but raise their right hands to vote.
Richard "Goma" Gomez does have credible credentials. A practitioner of the manly art of fencing, his favorite weapon being the foil. Goma won a bronze medal in the 1995 Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
In the 1997 SEAG held in Indonesia, he won two silver medals, and again a silver in the 2001 SEAG in Malaysia. He had one disappointment when his foil team was foiled (pardon the pun) and failed to reach the quarterfinals in the 2002 Asian games in Busan, South Korea. So what? All that glitters is not gold.
For those who are not familiar with the foil as a fencing instrument, the action is mainly thrust-and-parry until one player scores a point. You ask how that will help Goma as a senator? No problem. His expertise as a foil expert will come in handy when he engages in debates on the floor of the Senate where he can use verbal arguments during debates like a foil -- thrust to score a point, and deftly parry his opponent's arguments in defense of his stand on an issue. See? Or, maybe you don't see.
