SENATE PRESIDENT Tito Sotto, more famous as comedian than as senator, has rubbed off on his colleagues, or some of them, his great talent: humor. It is another brand of nuance which, as it has been shown lately in a light communion of partisan souls, need not be partisan at all. It can be contagious that way, though perhaps omicron, which is neither pinklawan or DDS, is more.
Obviously, the virus is a momentary digression, a cosmic eclipse, from the point of view of eternity, from the real,serious, peculiar issues involving politics, Pinoy-style.
What happened recently , of course, was a spin-off of the latest controversy in the COMELEC about widespread rottenness that destroys Philippine politics like gangrene , which was exposed by the now retired – good riddance?—Commissioner Rowena Guanzon. According to her gospel, one of Sotto’s colleagues is dipping his unholy hand in the decision concerning the disqualification cases against presidential aspirant Bongbong Marcos.. It’s what’s keeping the ponente of a fellow commissioner from issuing her ponencia or resolution.
Guanzon has made it known that the senator- suspect is a) from Davao and b) close to the man who would be ex in a few months. By her hints, in traditional Filipino street joke, someone should have already passed gas. So far, no sound or smell.
Apparently, the feisty commissioner has told a few good men who her quarry is, among them Sotto. She wants him to kick off a probe to unmask the perpetrator of a crime when she spills the poly or monosyllable of a name. To fasttrack the process, a joke has started the ball rolling, and the senators’ mischievous minds running, in the august chamber. More importantly, she disclosed that she had told the senator’s wife, and she feared the worst for the senator.
Honestly, it seemed rehearsed , or scripted, with no one missing the beat or forgetting his lines.
Sotto,as the leading impresario, naturally, started the joke. During the plenary session last Wednesday, he asked Majority Floor Leader Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri what he was discussing with fellow legislators before he banged the gavel. Zubiri obliged: it’s about Guanzon’s revelation on who’s delaying the poll body’s decision on BBM’s DQ(disqualification).
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon Jr. was quick on the draw. He asked if Dela Rosa was present and was in the session hall. Sotto took the cue. ‘The Rock’ attended the Commission on Appointment hearing that morning.
Drilon:” So his face was not exactly parang nabugbog? Totoo ba yon?”
Zubiri: “Tinanong ko rin po siya, Mr President. Hindi raw po siya nabugbog.”
While the comedic interpellations were going on, Dela Rosa was laughing at Zubiri while Sen. Bong Go, another senator from Davao, was sitting quietly with a poker face at the back of the session hall.
Truth, according to Eric Overby, is usually hidden in a field of nuances.Usually, it is not found, another writer said, where tyranny reigns. Once in a while, legislators have shown themselves capable of intellectually handing serious discussions of serious issues without taking themselves seriously. It can be inferred that Sotto is not a tyrant, though arguably a reluctant fan.
The episode last Wednesday in the Senate seemed a like a segment in the “Eat Bulaga”, where Sotto built his fame ,and authored by the funniest of the Escalera Boys, Joey de Leon. It also displayed the potential of the senators to be stand-up comedians if they leave politics, or comedians becoming senators.
Except Sen. Dick Gordon. The Blue Ribbon Committee has run President Duterte to the ground by accusing him of betraying public trust over the Pharmally fiasco, suggesting impeachment, if possible, or prosecution once he leaves office at the end of his term. There is also a lingering threat hanging like the sword of Damocles from the International Criminal Court over crimes against humanity in the war on drugs.
Somehow, the alleged intervention at the COMELEC over BBM’s disqualification is seen as part of a SWOT (strength,weakness, opportunity, threat) strategy meant to clear the post-presidential path for Duterte. After all, BBM owes the current kingpin by the Pasig River. He allowed the burial of a former dictator at the heroes’ graveyard , an act of sacrilege. His daughter is also his running mate, bringing more votes to his candidacy that he alone could not muster, a historic political bonanza. Now, he’s leading the race, and if the DQs are taken out of the way, he might just be the country’s top honcho. Do the math.
There’s no nuance in Gordon’s recommendation though , all shard-edged degradation of a person occupying the highest of the land who , by operation of law and logic, should be the best exemplar.
The Sotto-initiated nuance was the exact opposite, providing hope,even redemption, for better politics, at least in the Senate. “Nuance refuses to envision others degradingly, “ David Ark said, adding that it also opens the possibility of communion . Positively, communion implies shared objectives, not just the desire for power but to serve the highest of the people.
Meantime, it can be said that Sotto ,on the basis of a privileged information has, as a popular Bee Gees song goes, started a joke that started the whole world laughing. The end of the joke should not be on him. The probe on who among his two colleagues from Davao is guilty of Guanzon’s expose should be pursued.
“When they call the roll in the Senate,” the late American President Theodore Roosevelt said, “ the senators do not know whether to answer “present” or “not guilty”.
