Style Living Self Celebrity Geeky News and Views
In the Paper BrandedUp Hello! Create with us Privacy Policy

[OPINION] Oh, what a circus: The Senate presidency drama

By Gerry Lirio Published May 22, 2024 7:12 pm

Migz Zubiri was finally thrown out of the Senate presidency last Monday. "Finally," because that ouster plan has been going around since February.

Zubiri was broken-hearted, he said, only because he refused to believe the coup plot. Reality is unkind indeed only when one is unwilling to believe it. 

We bumped into Zubiri’s father Joe, former Bukidnon congressman, last March in a restaurant in Power Plant Mall and told him about the impending Senate coup. Ignore it, the proud father told us: “That would never happen. These were just rumors.”

Or father and son probably believed it: The ouster threat was real; it pestered them no end, like pebbles in their shoes. 

That it happened three months later showed Migz’ brinkmanship, a never-ending queueing to the Palace to receive instructions, to deliver a litany of OPMs to the Palace tenants, or what he called “powers that be,” but which he could not deliver because he could not rein after all on 23 other different republics in the Senate. 

Or as he put it: he was only “respecting the independence” of each senator. Well, he got an extension of three months for that “brinkmanship.” 

We wondered why Zubiri had to go public to say he was “broken-hearted” over his ouster—supposedly because he was not following “instructions” on charter change and lately on the Senate committee hearing on the PDEA leaks, which has been digging up President Marcos’ alleged marijuana past—but he couldn’t be brave enough to name from whom he was getting the instructions. That’s a problem with people who can't stand on their own feet. On their own merit. 

With some 20 years of experience in the Senate and the House of Representatives, Zubiri should have long learned that a lawmaker has no Torrens title to any legislative position. One gets it because of political patronage—not out of one’s brilliance or press release about himself. 

Zubiri has had his moments occupying high positions in both houses. Why? Because he was a cut above the rest? Frank Drilon, one of the most senior and probably one of the better senators in the last Congress, was only a minority leader during the Duterte administration. That is not funny. That’s politics. 

Conversely, one loses a high position in Congress without patronage. That's a political circus. No one should be surprised who’s going to be left out when the music stops. 

Zubiri would continue to stand by the Filipino people as an ordinary senator, he said. That would have served the public better if he had named names and revealed the identities and circumstances of the high and mighty instructions. 

For someone not in the league of former Senate Presidents Jovito Salonga and Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and former House Speakers Ramon Mitra and Jose de Venecia, Zubiri lost his title gently. He was still given the time to deliver to say his goodbye piece. 

We have witnessed many times a change in leadership in the House and the Senate happening past office hours like it was a night of a hundred knives of friends and colleagues stabbing in the back a lawmaker who has outlived his usefulness to the Palace tenants.  

Did Zubiri get our sympathy? He did, but he provided no rallying point to sing Bayan Ko in the middle of his speech. It was not unlike his political career had been murdered, Godfather-style. Not enough for us to sing Do you hear the people sing?

Zubiri’s ouster was a sad tale, but a personal tale. We need some proof that he was not unlike the same kind. The senator doth protest too much. We have seen a few senators and congressmen running to hide the Senate mace or the House seal to prevent a turnover. It was a circus. 

When the first ouster plot broke out in February, the Palace reportedly asked Sen. Jinggoy Estrada to take Zubiri’s place. Rumors flew thick and fast from Malacanang to the Senate, to the House of Representatives, and into the barber shops and back. The feedback might have been strong. The public should be thankful it did not happen. Estrada is the Senate's No. 2 man.

Political-baggage wise, Sen. Chiz Escudero is a better fit, for the Palace, er, for the other senators. He, at times, tries to illuminate rather than obfuscate issues. On the impending change in the committee leadership, there are only 24 senators, and there are at least 40 committees. Let us see who would come home empty-handed.

Not that the new senate president would not get the same instructions from the powers that be. All that can make or unmake Escudero. Or the Senate. 

But then again, did he get the position because he was the best of them all? Nobody really knows for sure the deal between Escudero and the Palace. When Escudero showed up for oath-taking, with his first lady in tow, it only showed he was ready and that everything had been previously arranged. There are things we hardly know. The public should be vigilant. 

What happened to Zubiri may happen to Escudero. If it happens, when it happens, should we get hurt? Probably, only when we laugh.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of PhilSTAR L!fe, its parent company and affiliates, or its staff.