Should Senate be lawyers-only?
The trial is showing us how loudly a man can bang the gavel that is no longer in his hand. Every road somehow leads back to the Cayetanos in this impeachment.
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Daily TribuneThe trial is showing us how loudly a man can bang the gavel that is no longer in his hand. Every road somehow leads back to the Cayetanos in this impeachment.
Erwin got so angry, he blamed Alan’s beard. Said the beard was grown out of sadness after losing the Senate presidency.
We disagree. The beard is a survivor. Alan must keep the beard. It’s doing fantastic work. People don’t appreciate the beard enough. It has one job: protect this trial from another “essential” detour.
Because you shave the beard, people will be looking around saying, “Alan, where’s the chin?”
Hey, Alan. Did God forget to press Enter between the neck and the chin?
And why is Pia always panting? She requires you to ask her, “How are you?” She goes, “Haaah… good.”
The impeachment trial has two defendants: Sara Duterte and Alan Cayetano’s apparent inability to let the Senate presidency go.
“I’m a lawyer.”
“I’m a lawyer.”
P25 million to run the Senate a day. That’s an incredibly expensive way to remind us who passed the bar.
Win is Senate President. Nice man. Very smart. Nice haircut. But let’s be honest. Not a lawyer.
Alan is a lawyer. Do you understand the trauma? One morning, Alan wakes up, and the Senate says, “Congrats. The lawyer is no longer Senate President. The engineer is.”
Imagine going to the hospital. “Who’s the surgeon?”
“Not the doctor.”
The Senate has 24 senators. One lawyer keeps reminding you he’s a lawyer; somehow the non-lawyer gets the gavel. Say it enough; you do not have to attack Win to show he’s unqualified.
The trial is showing us how loudly a man can bang the gavel that is no longer in his hand. Every road somehow leads back to the Cayetanos in this impeachment. Who should preside? How should the trial run? What did the prosecution mean? Alan had many, many thoughts. Wrong procedure, wrong witness, wrong document, wrong signature, wrong date, where’s the notary public?
Chiz? Nice earring, Mr. Presiding Officer. Paraiba perhaps? Certain sparkle to it.
Nice eyebrows, too. Who’s your contractor? DPWH?
Alan didn’t even need to become Senate President. Why bother? Chiz is already doing the job for him. Alan talks, talks, talks. Chiz: “Proceed.” Like every hour spent explaining chicken longganisa is not kikiam is one less hour asking about flood control.
Two Cayetanos objected to the election of Chiz as presiding officer. Said the Constitution already gave that job to Senate President Win Gatchalian. They wanted Win. Maybe they were right on the law. But politically, what a picture.
Chiz looks like the Senate President. Alan sounds like the Senate President. Win is the Senate President. Live. On television.
Poor Win. Somebody get him a line. One line. Doesn’t have to be legal. “Good morning” is fine. We’ll take it. Something to occasionally remind everybody that he won.
Alan never said Congress should be lawyers-only. Never said it. Doesn’t exist. Go find the quote. You can’t. He never said that, because Win didn’t go to Ateneo Law, he should be deported to China.
But that is the danger of Alan’s lawyer talk. It sounds like only lawyers are qualified to govern people whose lives they have never lived. But the Senate is not supposed to be the integrated bar but supposed to be the country.
You need a farmer when you’re writing laws about farms. Pretty obvious. You need a worker when you’re talking about work. You need teachers, journalists, nurses, business owners. Sure, have lawyers. Fine. Great. Everybody loves a good lawyer. Sometimes. But not lawyers speaking for everyone else. Let the people speak for themselves. That’s the whole point.
Sometimes it won’t sound polished. Sometimes the grammar won’t make the deans happy. Sometimes Sen. Robin Padilla gets up, asks a question, and all the fancy lawyers chuckle. They laugh. They think it’s hilarious.
Meanwhile, he’s asking the question millions of people are screaming at their screens. Very impressive. They know the label. He knows the feeling.
They did it with Lito too. Manny. They are doing it with Sara.
“How could people vote for them?”
You stop listening to the citizens because you don’t like what they are saying; you have stopped representing them.
