The Sunset Flip (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} thesunsetflip) wrote,@ 2008-11-17 12:39:00 |
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03. Side notes on a Senate coup
While the pretty much the entire Senate press, uh, corps was milling around and throwing around what amounts to educated guesses on the rumored move to unseat the Senate President, I was dying for a cigarette.
Being part of history is exciting and all, but even the Sistine Chapel would be just so much paint and stone to a nicotine addict faced with the prospect of not being able to smoke.
Senate President Manuel Villar jumped the gun on the conspiracy by resigning his post, and gaining as much of a victory as he would have gotten had he said "you can't fire me, I quit."
Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was elected to replace Villar, prompting fears that this might mean an administration-friendly Senate and an end to ongoing Senate investigations on the fertilizer fund scam and the Euro Generals controversy.
I could probably go on and analyze the political ramifications of the whole coup, but I would just be echoing the words of bigger, wiser bloggers. I would rather talk about the genuine pathos that I felt for Senator Lito Lapid.
Watching him look at Enrile and flash a thumbs-up, Icouldn't decide whether he was giving or asking for approval. His eyes were sort of a cross between Ted Neely and a pauppy dog, like they were asking "am I making a difference now?" He looked so earnest and starved for affection that I half-expected some Russian grandmother to come up and give him a hug because he's just as special as everyone else.
Dismissed (probably deservedly) as an inconsequential Arroyo stooge brought in only when numbers are needed, Lapid could be so much more. Well, alright, he could be more.
Nothing forbids him from, you know, acting senatorial and actually doing some legislative work. One might even say that that's what he's in power for. I mean, really, why not pass some laws since you have the job anyway, right? While not the senator with the most absences from plenary sessions, Lapid does not have the valid excuse of, oh, being locked up in a military prison like Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
Huh, I guess I'm back to hating him now for wasting his mandate, but for a few seconds this afternoon, if he had looked in my direction, I'd have walked over and patted him on the head.
While the pretty much the entire Senate press, uh, corps was milling around and throwing around what amounts to educated guesses on the rumored move to unseat the Senate President, I was dying for a cigarette.
Being part of history is exciting and all, but even the Sistine Chapel would be just so much paint and stone to a nicotine addict faced with the prospect of not being able to smoke.
Senate President Manuel Villar jumped the gun on the conspiracy by resigning his post, and gaining as much of a victory as he would have gotten had he said "you can't fire me, I quit."
Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was elected to replace Villar, prompting fears that this might mean an administration-friendly Senate and an end to ongoing Senate investigations on the fertilizer fund scam and the Euro Generals controversy.
I could probably go on and analyze the political ramifications of the whole coup, but I would just be echoing the words of bigger, wiser bloggers. I would rather talk about the genuine pathos that I felt for Senator Lito Lapid.
Watching him look at Enrile and flash a thumbs-up, Icouldn't decide whether he was giving or asking for approval. His eyes were sort of a cross between Ted Neely and a pauppy dog, like they were asking "am I making a difference now?" He looked so earnest and starved for affection that I half-expected some Russian grandmother to come up and give him a hug because he's just as special as everyone else.
Dismissed (probably deservedly) as an inconsequential Arroyo stooge brought in only when numbers are needed, Lapid could be so much more. Well, alright, he could be more.
Nothing forbids him from, you know, acting senatorial and actually doing some legislative work. One might even say that that's what he's in power for. I mean, really, why not pass some laws since you have the job anyway, right? While not the senator with the most absences from plenary sessions, Lapid does not have the valid excuse of, oh, being locked up in a military prison like Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
Huh, I guess I'm back to hating him now for wasting his mandate, but for a few seconds this afternoon, if he had looked in my direction, I'd have walked over and patted him on the head.
