Tuesday, October 02, 2007 Escudero: Who wants to be hero? By Edcer Escudero Wit or without
ABOLISH the Senate? Why not? It's long overdue.
"Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the nation" by demolishing one component in our political structure - the Upper Chamber of Congress, or the Senate.
This "August Body" is made up of various kinds of bodies: old bodies, young bodies, beautiful bodies, glamorous bodies, rich bodies and intellectual nobodies.
There are three major types of blood in those bodies – all blood, young blood, and high blood.
The overall conduct of our senators on Day One of the Senate investigate on the ZTE broadband deal last September 26, showcased their incompetence and arrogance, and earned for them forfeiture of their right to exist in our political landscape.
Clearly drunk with parliamentary power and authority, they acted like schoolmasters interrogating and scolding erring pupils.
They were prosecutorial, inquisitorial, dictatorial and mercurial.
Eager to display their investigative talent, junior senators Jinggoy Estrada, Jamby Madrigal and Alan Peter Cayetano actively participated, and ended exposing their inexperience, naïveté and immaturity.
Estrada was dictatorial. He demanded that Abalos answer his questions with only a "yes" or a "non."
Madrigal was judgmental. She asked Abalos if he was willing to be a fall guy.
Brash Cayetano threw malicious innuendo. He told Neri that he would vote for him for public office because he tells the truth, unlike his boss in Malacañang.
Senate old hand Aquilino Pimentel Jr., ever the insolent and suspicious oppositionist, was gossipy and impertinent. He wanted to know if Abalos has a child with a women not his wife.
Joker Arroyo, an administration senator for convenience, was passive and aloof. He looked like a very tired old man. Maybe he should retire.
Mar Roxas denigraded the Neda and Neri branding the agency as useless. He chose to be offensive instead of diplomatic.
Miriam Defensor Santiago was her usual fiery self - bombastic, acidic and terroristic. She gave Abalos, Neri and De Venecia III a public scolding. Worse, she invented the theory that China invented corruption. That was really irresponsible. That was a monumental mental lapse. She opened her mouth without thinking.
Obviously, the senators see the hand of Malacañang deeply dipped into the ZTE deal, and they want the president's men to make a public confession of an imagined sin. It is a foolish expectation. They should be more resourceful and creative.
The Senate hearing is but an excuse for them to grandstand. It is in their nature as politicians. Actually, they don't care who among the Palace men get the fat kickback. All they care about is the downfall of PGMA. That's the bottomline.
National interest? It is just a matter of rhetoric to them. The only interest that interests them most is their own.
These senators are fooling us. The Senate investigations are made not in aid of legislation, but in aid of their suspicion. And their principal suspect is President Arroyo. They must be paranoiac.
Abolish the Senate? Yes! And let's get rid of those characters with their bogus air of self-importance. They are meek and humble only when they want our votes, but they become imperial when they get elected.
Miriam Santiago, in one moment of accidental brilliance, joked that what this country needs is a volunteer hero who will bomb the Senate when all members are inside the building, including herself. And our problems will be over.
Frankly, it is not a bad joke. It's a great idea. Will Miriam volunteer to be that hero? (Heheheh. Joke only.)
