Riding the G.O.A.T.

Manny Pacquiao's drubbing of Oscar dela Hoya is an ego-booster for Filipinos. It shows that Pinoys can excel in a field given that everything is equal. His fight last Sunday was a respite from the everyday problems encountered by the average Juan. By bringing joy to the people, Pacman can be considered a hero in his own right.

Having said that, what is it with senator Migz Zubiri? ABS-CBN says in its report:

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri filed a proposed Senate resolution Monday commending the victorious Manny Pacquiao by declaring the fighter as the "Greatest Filipino Boxer of Our Time."

Zubiri said he hopes that proposed Senate Resolution No. 792 would be approved by Tuesday in time for Pacquiao’s expected arrival in Manila the next day.

Zubiri said the resolution will serve as the Senate’s “gift” to Pacquiao for his magnificent win over 10-time world boxing champion Oscar de la Hoya, whom the Filipino fighter defeated in eight rounds.

I have a few questions regarding the good senator's proposal.

First, do we really need a senate resolution for that? Isn't it the job of sports analysts to annoint which boxer is the greatest of all time?

Second, doesn't Zubiri have anything better to do in the senate? You know, like drafting meaningful laws and stuff like that?

Third, I'm not saying at all that Zubiri is an opportunist, but is the senator just riding Manny's jock to gain free publicity?

Photo: Mclaire2, Flickr, Creative Commons

Leadership Change in the Senate

I read it first in Ms.Ellen Tordesillas' blog: senator Juan Ponce Enrile is now the new senate president.

There are too many issues involved here, so I'm just gonna make some observations:

I'm no big fan of senator Manny Villar, but I think the primary reason for his ouster is in connection with the 2010 presidential elections.

With senator Enrile - a staunch GMA ally - at the helm, will this mean less Senate investigations of the anomalies of the current administration?

With Senator Allan Peter Cayetano relinquishing chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee, what will happen to the inquiries regarding de la Paz, the fertilizer fund and the NBN-ZTE?

Senator Gringo Honasan was reportedly one of those who orchestrated the coup against Villar. Insert your punchline here.

It's a surprise that senator Jinggoy Estrada and senator Chiz Escudero voted for Enrile. Political affiliations are really a mystery to me. Is it because of convenience or of principles? Is the preceding question an obviously stupid one?

Politics really does make strange bedfellows.

Photo: Rick Audet, Flickr, Creative Commons

Joc Time in the Senate

I heard bits and pieces of the Senate hearing of the fertilizer fund scam yesterday over the radio, and I *almost* felt sorry for former Department of Agriculture assistant secretary Montes and undersecretary Joc Joc Bolante.

A Senate hearing is worse than appearing before a court. It is even worse than appearing before the Supreme Court. At least in the Supreme Court, the questions are limited to the issues of the case. Not so in a Senate hearing. A senator (or all 23 of them) can ask a person under oath about practically anything.  As shown in the hearing yesterday, a witness' canned responses (e.g. that is based on my personal knowledge; I do not know anything about it; etc) are no match for the senators' burning questions.

But as for Bolante, the senators could not quite pin him down. He was as slippery as a snake, wriggling his way out of questions when he obviously knew the answers. In one sequence, Senator Aquilino Pimentel (I think) asked Joc Joc the names of the people who availed of the fertilizer fund. Joc Joc said he didn't know. Senator Pimentel then mentioned some names for Joc Joc to identify: "Do you know congressman X of Ilocos? Do you know congressman Y of Cebu? Do you know congressman Jose de Venecia of Pangasinan?

Joc Joc seemed to have developed amnesia as he answered that he did not know the people being mentioned,  not even congressman Jose de Venecia of Pangasinan (In fact, the had developed such a severe case of amnesia that he forgot Rotary's - his favorite social club's - four-way test, when he was previously asked of the same).

An exasperated Pimentel then blurted out, "Have you been living in Mars?" or something to that effect.

I almost pitied Bolante until I had to remind myself that he was most certainly hiding something, had evaded Senate questioning for two years and had been preparing for this moment since then. The fleeting feeling of pity was then dismissed just as easily as Joc Joc's empty answers.

Photo: david drexler, Flickr, Creative Commons