Sis fire

The Senate investigation headed by Sen. Imee Marcos’ Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation has opened the proverbial can of worms (hornet’s nest, Pandora’s box, Gordian knot — choose your own hackneyed expression) on the so-called People’s Initiative or PI, derisively called “Politico’s Initiative” by its detractors.

The lead dramatis personae couldn’t be more stereotypically comedic: Two lawyers looking cluelessly unlawyerly (Attys. Abad — a former PGMA official — and one Avisado) and a mastermind (Noel Oñate) whose facial expression is one of perpetual bewilderment. Together, these three make for a Filipino Three Stooges, but instead of physical slapstick, they hit each other with contradictory and inconsistent statements that make them look like they’re essaying a lousy (or, if it were truly a film comedy, brilliant!) script for some theater of the absurd.

At first, denying that the Speaker of the House had anything to do with the PI, Oñate then went on to claim that the Speaker’s presence at a meeting for that purpose had slipped his mind. If I were Romualdez, I would take offense at the insinuation that his attendance was so forgettable that people hardly noticed he was there at all.

After being confronted with a photograph that showed him with the Speaker, Oñate was forced to admit that he had sought the former’s help — and that of his staff — to distribute signature forms nationwide. Under withering “cross-examination” by Senators Marcos and Binay, Oñate was further compelled to admit that the meeting took place in one of the Speaker’s many properties in Forbes Park. This after Atty. Avisado’s vain attempts to stop him from saying so, which efforts were stymied by Sen. Imee’s killer glowering stare and stern warning against Avisado’s coaching. Looks like Oñate was not given any avisado (advice or notice) beforehand by Atty. Avisado.

Rounding out the comedy sketch was Atty. Abad’s slip-of-the-tongue admission of making common cause with the Speaker on the PI. Taken together with the secrecy surrounding the funders of the PI’s massive ad campaign and the fact that the organization fronting for the signature movement had been functus officio as a juridical entity for two decades, to use another shop-worn phrase, the plot thickens.

As evidence of Mr. Romualdez’s involvement mounts, we wonder if Rep. Marcoleta will honor his pledge of asking the Speaker to step down if the latter is shown to have had a hand in the PI. Marcoleta should have just promised to remove his toupee in public, which would have been less embarrassing of a commitment.

At any rate, during The Immortal Juan Ponce Enrile’s centenary, it was reported that Senate President Zubiri and the Speaker met incidentally, and shook hands on an entente cordiale (or ceasefire, if you will) between the two houses of Congress. Many commented that it was in poor taste-forswearing the right of the people to know and the checks-and-balances role of the Senate vis-à-vis the House of Representatives over some drinks in a social context.

But those who think that the Senate President can bring Senator Imee around to stopping her probe on the PI, based on a “party favor,” may have another thing coming. This Imelda — just like her namesake mother — is made of sterner stuff. If she can take on her brother and first cousin on a matter of principle, why should she relent on the appeal of one who is, for all intents and purposes, just a co-equal?

Expect, therefore, more fireworks in the Senate in relation to the (wildly unpopular) PI. After all, it seems that only a few politicians in our midst adhere to the maxim attributed to Gandhi that “there can be no compromise on fundamentals. Any compromise on fundamentals is a surrender.”

Methinks Imee is not one to surrender. Instead of a ceasefire, one can be sure the President’s “Super Ate” is going to give the PI proponents more Sis Fire.