‘Tessie’s dance’ sweeps Pampanga

ANGELES CITY — Put your hands on your hips and do a little jig to the left and to the right.

This is part of the latest dance step called "Terak Tessie," named after Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta who did the jig soon after the Senate impeachment court voted Tuesday night against allowing the presentation of vital evidence that could lead to the conviction of President Estrada.

Meanwhile, another of the senators who voted no to the prosecution’s evidence, Majority Leader Francisco Tatad, had to sleep away from home when irate crowds blocked the road to his house in posh La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City.

"I had to sleep somewhere else because the protesters blocked the road," Tatad said, adding that he understood that this was part of the hazards of being a public official.

A group of female students at the gate of the Holy Angel University here was observed yesterday morning doing the unusual dance ritual, Terak Tessie, to the jeers of their sidewalk audience.

First, they held both their open hands between their mouths and shouted "Erap resign!", followed by a thumbs-up sign in their raised right hand, and finally, with their arms akimbo, shook their hips to the left and to the right.

At the Astro Park in front of the main gate of Clark Field, The STAR also observed a group of older women in jogging pants doing the same improvised dance step while laughing.

One of the women, who asked to be identified only as Norita, described the dance as Terak Tessie: Terak meaning dance in Pampango dialect, and Tessie after the senator.

Oreta, sister of the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., was observed to have performed the original dance step soon after the Senate, voting 11-10, rejected the proposal of the prosecutors to open bank documents linking the testimony of bank official Clarissa Ocampo to the President’s alleged ill-gotten wealth.

"Nakakahiya sa kababaihan ang ginawa ni Oreta (What Oreta did was a shame to women)," Norita said, adding that they are now mimicking the senator to express their indignation over her antics.

As classes in many schools were suspended and a transport strike hit this Central Luzon city, some observers said the late senator may be turning in his grave over the "no" vote and latest dance step of his younger sister.

The militant group Sanlakas described Oreta’s dance as "like Salome as she celebrated over the grave of truth and justice."

Oreta, who led the opening prayer yesterday in the trial that was eventually suspended, justified her little jig saying she did it to keep her cool as the gallery heckled her and other pro-Estrada senators.

"Ganoon lang talaga ako, magalaw (I’m really like that, wriggly)," she said.

For his part, Tatad denounced the alleged harassment by protesters on board several vehicles who blocked the road leading to his residence and created a racket, including the honking of horns for several minutes.

Tatad was among those who voted against the opening of the second sealed envelope from Equitable-PCI Bank allegedly containing the P3.3-billion bank records of "Jose Velarde."

The majority leader is the second senator to be harassed by protesters after the Senate handed down the controversial decision.

Demonstrators also trooped to the residence of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago in UP Village, Quezon City, late Tuesday to hold an impromptu noise barrage and light candles. — Ding Cervantes, Perseus Echeminada, Marichu Villanueva, Aurea Calica