Carcinogenic popcorn

By Munding Salao

What a crazy couple of days. Bato dela Rosa admitted that he came to the Senate at the instance of Alan Peter Cayetano in order for his allies to win as the House majority. So, it’s all been part of the plan after all. Last Wednesday’s big, chaotic mess left me with a lot of questions and raised eyebrows.

So it was Sen. Bato who nominated Mao Aplasca to be head of the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms. The OSAA is expected to be competent and cool enough to act under pressure, especially because one has to deal with various political personalities with clashing ideals at a very volatile moment in time, what with the impeachment proceedings of VP Sara at hand. Well, supposedly. But then Aplasca admitted firing the first shot that caused the chaotic standoff. He alleged that he was firing at NBI agents. But there’s media footage that surfaced that very night, which proved that the agents of the NBI were nowhere near the scene of the commotion. Who’s lying here? Granted, if it was NBI, did this necessitate shooting your guns at that very moment? Put yourself in the shoes of the shooter; it’s government agent to government agent … Your first option is to open fire at a fellow government agent? Pareho lang kamo naga utang sa GSIS, and then maginamo pa kamo sa ila building? In hostile occurrences, isn’t it necessary to observe restraint before giving in to itchy trigger fingers?

In the heat of the commotion, the majority senators all went Facebook Live. The Cayetano senators insisted they were under attack. Alan Peter Cayetano would continue insisting the same in a series of press conferences that went on the day after. Even Imee Marcos was seen on Facebook Live that evening. And then not too long afterward, we see them in a lovely photo. Every one of them with big smiles, looking like Ngiti ng Tagumpay, as they say. Nothing washes off the fear of being “on a building under attack” like posing for a big, happy family dinner photo. My favorite is the one photo with Jonvic Remulla shaking the hand of Bato. This photo is actually a selfie by Joel Villanueva, tongue out and peace sign. Bagay ka gid ser!

Jonvic Remulla said that they were there “not to arrest Sen. Dela Rosa,” and before the press, he said that they will find who did this and said that they “have all the security footages.” If that’s so, why are we seeing so little of what’s been going on? If there are CCTVs even on the emergency staircases where we saw Bato’s talent in action chase stunts, why didn’t we ever see footage of when they actually fled the building?

When the mess of that night simmered down, Jinggoy Estrada is heard saying, “Itago nyo ang CCTV,” but insists that he meant otherwise from what we understand it to be. The Office of the Ombudsman sent a subpoena to obtain the CCTV footage, but the Senate refused it. Wow. Impressive, no? I mean, maybe if you’re a gangster, you can have the balls to refuse a subpoena. If you sell pirated sneakers and pirated videos, you would refuse a subpoena. Sige. Even if you’re an aktibista, maybe you would also refuse a subpoena. But for the Senate to refuse a subpoena from the Ombudsman? Don’t you think this can have repercussions that would only worsen the mess we’re already in?

By the way, before all this happened, we were still processing the unfolding drama between Robin and Kiko. Robin Padilla was passionately calling for an apology from Sen. Kiko Pangilinan because Padilla alleged that Kiko “shouted” at him. I didn’t know Binoy was this sensitive. But then, the evening of the chaos at the Senate, amid all the gunshots, Robin did not share the same passion as Cayetano. From the looks of it, he didn’t feel “attacked” like Alan. This is the Robin Padilla who we childishly often associate with machismo, who we would childishly assume would not back down if he was threatened by any form of hostility, and the same Robin who needed an apology when Kiko raised his voice. Calm and cool the way Mao should have been. Even had a smile on that media footage that evening. I wonder what was up with that. I wonder if it had anything to do with the witnesses’ claims that stated that Bato made his escape … Sorry, Alan: “left the building” with Robin.

And now, this new Senate majority has just removed Sen. Bam Aquino as chairperson of the Committee on Basic Education. He was all set to launch a National Education Plan, which is set to address and solve the education crisis of our country. Additional classrooms, support for college students, a broadened National Feeding Program, reforms on K-12, and several other reforms. The senator, who is also a summa cum laude, is out from his position. And whom are they planning to put in his place? Well, there is much talk coming from the Duterte camp that it’s going to be Robin Padilla. If that happens, I won’t be surprised anymore. Yes, I know it sounds like a joke. But hey, check the headlines: Everything these days, it all sounds like a big, sick joke. Funny. Amusing. Toxic. It kills us more with every bite.