Regardless of how we feel about former President Rodrigo Duterte, we can all agree that he is a box office success. In fact, his latest appearance in the ongoing congressional inquiry on extrajudicial killings was the hottest topic on social media last week, with both his supporters and detractors chiming in and giving their two-cents.

If we set aside the important issues discussed, particularly those zeroing in on the ramifications of the war on drugs, what stood out in the hearing is how the former President exposed the incompetence of some of our lawmakers.

You see, these ne’er-do-wells take pride in their ability to ferreting out the truth, patting each other on the back while belittling lawyers in the process. In fact, their public-relations narratives point to how brilliant they are in cross-examining witnesses who are forced to cave in and make admission because of how they phrase their questions and present crucially vital pieces of evidence.

Scolding lawyers who were present in one of the hearings, Cong. Dan Fernandez once disparaged them by saying he can just simply google information about the law and proceed to doing their thing. Cong. Romeo Acop, meanwhile, has been gloating about his expertise as a former police investigator and how invited resource persons could not survive the gauntlet with him asking probing questions.

What these people don’t realize is that they look blazing and masterly not because they’re good but because they’re bullies who abuse their authority. In ordinary court proceedings where rules are set in place to strike a balance between digging into the truth and protecting the rights and interests of those who appear before them, these lawmakers would appear silly and stupid if they were to participate as counsel or lawyers.

A lot of the questions they usually ask in their legislative inquiries would surely be objected to simply because for the most part, they call for hearsay, are speculative and hypothetical, if not outright irrelevant. Unlike in their hearings, they cannot badger the witnesses like they usually do, or coach them if their testimonies support their biases. In other words, they cannot act as lawyers and judges at the same time.

This is the reason why people avoid attending their hearings. In fact, I personally know of a friend who was invited and was threatened if he would not cooperate. After the hearing, he was even approached by someone who represents a congressman and coached him to come up with a statement that is congruent to what his “boss” wants to ferret out. In fact, he was even asked to pay five million so the committee would go easy on him. Because of the sensitivity of this allegation, I cannot reveal the identities of the individuals involved.

Anyway, these lawmakers are able to do whatever they want because they can bully their way into making witnesses submit to their whims and caprices.

Then came Duterte.

Because they cannot bully him (for ostensible reasons such as his being a former chief executive among others), their inability to ask relevant, admissible and probing questions suddenly came to light. Usually, they can just ask anything and coerce the witnesses to simply break or give in. Here, they just couldn’t do that. The fact that Duterte is quick on his feet and also a crazy son-of-a-gun made them seem more like incompetent fools.

In any case, I don’t have anything against our lawmakers. Their job is important and they are clearly needed. I just hope they become more circumspect and treat their invited guests, regardless of who they are, with respect and dignity. They also shouldn’t belittle lawyers just because they could do what obviously they couldn’t.

Which brings me to this point: when Shakespeare wrote, “the first thing we do, let’s kill all lawyers,” he did so, only because he hadn’t met our congressmen.