Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero is our new Senate President after his colleagues in the Senate voted to install him, which also meant the ouster of Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri from the third highest office of the land.
This, after Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa turned the Senate into his tantrum room with a circus touch. Which then brings me to this thought: there really are people who should never be a Philippine senator.
Zubiri says he was ousted because he did not give in to the wishes of the powers that be. Other than that, it was rumored that he did not approve a planned “people’s initiative” and the holding of a hearing on the controversial “gentleman’s agreement” between former President Rodrigo Duterte and President Xi Jinping.
Thus, a failure of leadership on the part of Migz. Nevertheless, the Senate presidency is a sacred office. Being the third highest office of the land only after the presidency and the vice-presidency.
I remember the time when Juan Ponce Enrile was the Senate’s big cheese. There, he brought back the lost honor of the legislature and increased the benefits of hundreds of Senate employees.
The other one, quite frankly, gave them only bottled water. It was also during the tenure of JPE as Senate President when he displayed a sterling performance as presiding officer during the impeachment of former Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Well, looks like the entire country will have an oversupply of chiz curls this coming Christmas season. But seriously, the duration of the committee hearings are the decision of the committee chairman and not so much of the Senate president.
That is why the Pharmally hearings went on for many months under Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Richard “Dick” Gordon.
In conclusion, while the Senate President is the primus inter pares (first among equals) among his colleagues in the Senate, Senator Bato dela Rosa turned it into a primo’s interior retiro pares.
Resign as what
As a veteran of numerous rallies demanding the resignation of public officials, I was hesitant to support a recent gathering asking Vice-President Sara Duterte to resign her post.
Resign as what? Either as DepEd secretary or as vice-president.
I would have supported a call for her to resign as DepEd secretary since she already made it clear via criticisms on the Marcos administration. Plus the fact that I am incensed over several wrong-thinking individuals who support her and her father.
But to ask her to resign as vice-president is a whale of a difference from the former. Remember, she is still an elected official and doing so would require more than just asking her to step down.
But understand that there is a very thin line between her two posts. My fear is that this may blow up to a “Sara Resign” affair, and that would certainly go against the wishes of the president – for now.
And until such time that political developments remain at a tolerable level, let’s just keep moving forward, with or without a second fiddle.
The Marcos boys of yesterday
The Carmen Guerrero Nakpil/Café Havana bi-monthly lunch forum which I used to attend was a wonderful mixture of people mostly from the journalism profession, some in the culture and the arts, and the academe.
In one of our past lunch meetings, Mrs. Imelda Marcos treated us with a surprise visit. She was in her usual talkative and optimistic self when it came to the potential of our country being great again.
And yes, her magnetism was indeed remarkable. Later that afternoon, I sat beside her and Chitang Nakpil and listened more to her as she spoke about the Marcos era when she was its first lady. She remembered my old man’s ERA-4 (Evaluation Research Analysis), a think tank group tasked to conceptualize many of her social projects for Metro Manila, which also included the Metro Manila Commission (MMC), now called the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
These projects were the Heart center, the Kidney Center, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Green Revolution, and the New Society Movement with the slogan “Walk Proud You Are Filipino.”
And the very first RP-USSR Friendship Society (my father’s brainchild) which softened the so-called iron curtain. This paved the way for exchange student programs for both countries.
An older brother of mine qualified to be an exchange student/scholar to the Lomonosov University in Moscow. The group was composed of Marcos men like my father, Blas Ople, Carmelo Barbero, Larry Cruz, Salvador Bigay, OD Corpuz, and Chitang Nakpil.
This special cultural bond between the two nations forged good friendships and honor, and most especially recognition by a leviathan of a nation to a tiny archipelago.
The Philippines was for some time in the minds of the old Kremlin comrades of the former Soviet Union – in a friendly way, and the years after, some sinister cop and party would put our country to shame to the new Russia in an attempt to slip out of Moscow a prohibited amount of cash which, to this day, none of the officers could explain to the public in a convincing way.
Mrs. Marcos spoke about her dream and projects then to eradicate poverty which she aptly called the “No Filipino Poor” program Its ingredients were filled with positive steps toward the betterment of the Filipino life.
Today, no less than the current presidential spouse First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos should continue with Mrs. Imelda Marcos’ projects, especially now that she is 94. I am certain FLLAM can do it too, given the upbringing and class she has as a gracious first lady.