Angara, Joker shake hands at Senate’s ‘38th Parallel’

Senators Edgardo Angara and Joker Arroyo finally shook hands yesterday on the Senate floor after an exchange of acrimonious words that some observers had feared would deepen the partisan rift in the chamber.

Senate President Franklin Drilon, Majority Leader Loren Legarda, Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Sen. Vicente Sotto III played peacemakers and convinced the two to meet in the middle of the session hall, or what Arroyo called the "38th parallel."

The two smiled at each other as they shook hands, betraying nothing of the bitter exchange of words between them in the last few days. Angara even patted the back of Arroyo while they joked about the whole incident.

"They said we should shake hands for the good of the Senate. One cannot quarrel with that proposition," a smiling Arroyo said.

Before they shook hands, it appeared that the gap between them had become unbridgeable, especially with the decision of Arroyo to deliver a privileged speech in answer to that of Angara the other day.

In his speech, Arroyo said President Arroyo herself had categorically told him and four other senators on the eve of Labor Day that she had not heard of any report on the impending arrest of Angara.

Earlier, Angara claimed there was a police intelligence report naming him and Sen. Panfilo Lacson as financiers of Labor Day rallyists and that they would be arrested should there be violence in the rally.

Arroyo said he asked that of the President because he would have opposed any attempt to arrest a senator, even one in the opposition. He also said that he wanted to underscore Angara’s pacifist temperament "and for which reason he should not and cannot be arrested."

Angara used the threatened arrest as reason to boycott the summit of political parties. Arroyo claimed, however, that the real reason for the boycott was Angara’s realization that they had committed a mistake in collaborating with Speaker Jose de Venecia in the Senate.

"The bugaboo of political persecution was summoned from the dark closet to conjure up a smokescreen for what is truly a cop-out," Arroyo said.

He added that he could have kept quiet had Angara not used "a forgettable LDP congressman from Cagayan de Oro" to attack him.

He defended the language he used in his utterances and statements, which Angara said had broken Senate tradition. Arroyo, however, said that what Angara complains about is nothing compared to the bitter debates between Claro M. Recto and Jose P. Laurel, and the tirades delivered by Camilo Osias, Tomas Confesor, Cipriano Primicias and many other "great senators."

Arroyo immediately sat down after delivering his speech, preventing Angara from interpelating him. Angara, however, made a rejoinder and stated that he was not complaining about being described as one who is incapable of hurting a fly or Arroyo’s sarcastic question "why would anyone want to arrest Senator Angara?"

Angara said that what he resented was Arroyo’s statement that he had actually not been cooperative so there was no meaning in the withdrawal of the opposition’s offer of "critical collaboration" with the Arroyo administration.

Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Pangilinan said he meant no harm and did not personally attack Angara when he refuted the veteran lawmaker’s claim that the Arroyo administration is "inept, insecure and paranoid."

"For me, I accept that (Angara’s reply) and I may disagree with some observations and points of view but I will respect that," the neophyte senator told reporters.

Pangilinan said that he considered the matter closed, adding he would rather concentrate on working for the passage of important pieces of legislation.

"Wala naman tayong hangaring personal dito, trabaho lang," he said. — With Aurea Calica