IT'S ludicrous to imagine Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo as a security guard in a blue uniform with a gun or night stick or a driver pedaling the tricycle.
A former congressman in Pampanga, elder child of ex-president Gloria Arroyo, and with a 2009 net worth of P101.3 million, Mikey will represent in the House a group (Ang Galing Pinoy) that claims to speak for "sikyus" and "trisikad" drivers. Seriously? Seriously.
Mikey being marginalized or poor is stupefying. Stunned critics call the party-list stunt "utterly despicable," "an abomination."
The idea of Mikey being a "sikyu" or a driver is hilarious but his party-list entry, according to a Comelec division, is valid since the nominee need not be marginalized himself. Mikey stands for and defends the poor but doesn't have to be poor.
The pro-Mikey ruling, critics say, contradicts an earlier Comelec decision that disqualified Ang Kasangga Rep. Teodorico Haresco because he didn't "belong" to the group of micro-entrepreneurs he was supposed to represent.
The complaint against Mikey will go to the Supreme Court.
The same court, a Comelec commissioner said in his dissent, earlier decreed that a party-list nominee must "belong" to the marginalized group he represents.
Where they belong
Still murky though. What does "belong" mean to the Supreme Court? If one is a card-bearing member and even takes part in the group's activities, does he qualify though he's filthy rich like Mikey?
The party-list is being used as a side door for wealthy and influential people to sneak into the House, which is dismaying because sectors the system is supposed to benefit also help pull off the fraud.
(paseares@yahoo.com)