E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
A family affair
Sunday, 01 28, 2007
Sunday, 01 28, 2007
Q: Should three Estradas, two Cayetanos and two Pimentels be allowed to inhabit the Senate in the Fourteenth Congress?
A: Let forty million voters decide.
The problem with that kind of answer is that it sidesteps the bigger issue of whether the opposition can pose a better alternative to the administration candidates of President Gloria Arroyo. Many times in the past, Arroyo has been excoriated by the opposition for foisting on the Filipino people her son, her brother-in-law, countless cousins and other relatives in the House of Representatives. Another Arroyo son is set to run for a seat in the House, and the opposition has expectedly raised the usual wail of protest against this unbridled nepotism.
What alternative, then, is the United Opposition (UNO) talking about if it is set to commit the same cardinal sin that it accuses Arroyo of?
In this country where family comes first before country in the hierarchy of loyalty, a Senate inhabited by close relations promises to evolve into a playhouse that could offer the country some very interesting and intense theater. Imagine, if you will, the following possible scenarios:
A Senate inquiry where a Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano is facing a charge for misconduct (like he does now in the House). What behavior could be expected of his sister Pia? Would she recuse herself from the hearings, or throw delicadeza to the wind and participate anyway, and vote to absolve her brother?
An investigation of a Sen. JV Ejercito for some anomalous transaction he might have entered into when he was mayor of San Juan. Would his half-brother Jinggoy and his stepmother Loi simply stand by the sidelines and watch the proceedings with bored disinterest? Or would they step into the fray in defense of the family honor? In yet another setting, could anyone expect three Estradas to have two — or even three — differing views on how to strengthen the Anti-Plunder Law?
Or a hearing conducted by a Sen. Coco Pimentel (in aid of legislation, of course), looking into the propriety of a deal which involves one of his former clients. Will he — and his famous namesake and father — inhibit himself from the proceedings? Alternatively, would they actively participate and vouch for the integrity of this citizen under investigation?
As former Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad pointed out in his now famous letter of Jan. 15 to Erap, “…the Senate, with all its absurdities, (will) end up as a mad and shallow ‘Family Ball.’ Where Malacanang has failed, UNO just might succeed — we would abolish the Senate’s reason for being.”
It is sheer Theater of the Absurd to contemplate: a 24-member Senate where three families would be occupying seven Senate seats at the same time. This number is, Kit Tatad goes on in his letter, “one-fourth of the Senate — after May 2007. Thereafter, 12 or eight or six families could end up controlling all 24 seats. Husbands and wives, together with their sons and daughters, and uncles and aunties — why not? — could end up running as one big gang.”
And why ever not? There is no enabling law (and it looks none will be forthcoming) that addresses that otherwise inspiring provision in the Constitution, which says, “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.” The Philippine political gene pool has no lifeguard. So what law, therefore, is violated when there is none that prevents everyone and his cousins twice-removed from jumping into the drink because the harbor is safe and the water’s fine?
What if that “error and madness” — which Kit Tatad had cautioned Erap against — prevails? Then the Senate might as well strike down that Latin phrase on its seal, Fiat Lux Servetae, and replace it with something more appropriate: Gradatim Vincemus — We overcome by degrees. It need not be emphasized whether by consanguinity or by affinity. We are strong on family, remember?
Legislation at the Senate is a field where 24 minds are allowed to look to their hearts when there are words to say. But family is family, so the Senate, during the debates and in the voting, will have to content itself with the unanimity of mind united by blood, not necessarily by conviction or principles. Issues will never be dissected, decisions will be predictable, pre-ordained even.
By all means, we do not have any qualms about the qualifications of Alan Peter Cayetano, et al.. They can make good senators, alright, but should not UNO, with which they have aligned themselves, make a selection from its deep bench? There is Kit Tatad; Tito Sotto is another. Has UNO ever considered Ronnie Zamora, Butz Aquino, Rolex Suplico, Rufus Rodriguez, Harry Roque, Armand Padilla and many others, who have earned their spurs in the opposition? Surely, they have waged enough battles to qualify them to carry on the fight for good government in the Senate.
Tatad is to be commended for stamping his resignation from UNO with his denunciation of the dynasty issue. The selection of candidates for senators has become a family affair — this much is most obvious. The big responsibility of offering to the nation a program of government worth supporting and fighting for has been lost altogether.
I know I should keep my words both soft and tender, because tomorrow I may have to eat them when forty million voters decide. But I say the elections in May 2007 are as much a referendum on Arroyo as it is fight for decency in governance. If UNO cannot even offer an alternative to Arroyo’s anointeds, insisting even that only relatives can win a decent fight against her designated hitters, what does that make of the opposition but merely Arroyo in disguise?
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