Wanted: Men of stature

When Senate Minority Floor Leader Juan Ponce Enrile finally broke his self- imposed silence and declared he would deliver a privilege speech, the nation waited with bated breath. Was this the speech that would change the course of Philippine political history?

Would Enrile name names and, like the enraged, blinded Samson bring the halls of the Senate come tumbling down? After all, he had been accused of being the mastermind of the whole PDAF Napoles scandal.

Would this speech be the beginning of the intellectual combat between the country’s legal luminaries? After all, Enrile has been hailed as a legal intellectual based on his past record, which of course includes presiding over the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona. He was going to tear apart – intellectually not physically of course – the Three Furies: Leila de Lima, Grace Pulido Tan and Conchita Carpio Morales.

He walked into the Senate floor with the reputation of always being triumphant in spite of the many twists and turns of Philippine politics. After all, this was the person who supposedly was the point person for the implementation of martial law and yet ended up claiming that he was one of the principal architects of the People Power Revolution which finally brought down the Marcos dictatorship.

If we are to believe Nelson Navarro who wrote his biography, there is in fact an “Enrile Version” of a parallel Philippine history.

As he stood behind the lectern in his light colored suit, I was initially reminded of the era of Rogelio de la Rosa when that color was considered fashionable. Irony may have been lost on the esteemed senator as I also seem to remember gangster suits in the same style were all the rage as well. By the way, for those who have forgotten, I am talking about the most popular actor of the 50s who almost became President of the Philippines.   

As the speech began to unravel, I began to realize that this was not going to be a “legacy” speech. It soon became obvious that it was seemingly that of an irritable old man who wanted to engage in what could only best be described as a name calling contest normally seen in schoolyards.

At the start of his tirade, Enrile said, “I have been advised by well meaning friends to ignore what was said against me in that Blue Ribbon hearing. After all, according to them, the abusive words were from an inane and bitterly hostile mind. I pondered over their unsolicited counsel and appreciated their concern for me.” My unsolicited advice is that Enrile should have listened and taken the advice of his friends.

True, there were some interesting tidbits such as Senator Miriam Santiago admitting she went to a psychiatrist and nearly flunking the bar exams. This is also the first time I heard the term “crusading crook” which is an oxymoron.

But this was definitely not a speech that would re-establish the Enrile legacy in Philippine history, even the one rewritten by him and his biographer.

Now that two opposition senators – Enrile and Estrada – have tried and dismally failed to either change public opinion or discredit their accusers, I wonder whether we will hear any other similar attempts from the rest of the HERMES team, namely Honasan, Revilla, Marcos or Sotto.

But there was a period in Philippine history when the opposition in the Senate were truly men of stature. Even during the presidency of the very popular Ramon Magsaysay, the Senate opposition was led by two intellectual giants, Senators Claro M. Recto and Lorenzo Tañada. Their speeches spoke of their differences in political philosophies and national visions from that of the administration at that time.

Recto and Tañada did not need committee chairmanships, Blue Ribbon hearings or pork barrel funds to establish their prominent roles in Philippine history.

After the retirement of Recto, Tañada was joined by another oppositionist, Senator Jose Wright Diokno. Together, they restored the people’s faith in the political system. They made us realize that it is possible to have politicians who could have brilliant minds and have the courage and personal integrity to remain incorruptible. At the same time, they were the voices fighting for social justice and equal opportunity for all Filipinos.

Ferdinand Marcos was elected president in 1965. In the 1967 senatorial elections, the opposition Liberal Party fielded eight senatorial candidates – Briones, Lim, Aquino, Katigbak, Henares, Osias, Rodrigo, Serrano. Utilizing all the power that would foreshadow his Marcos dictatorial rule, the administration won seven of eight seats. The only opposition candidate that won was Ninoy Aquino who was barely 35 years old. He later said that his first two years were very tough because he had to prove he was worthy of his seat.

In one of his articles, Nick Joaquin quotes Ninoy Aquino talking about those years: “My God, I was forced to study, to learn every trick in the book. I memorized the rules of the Senate; I burned the midnight oil going over old Senate Journals, reading up on old debates. I was determined to be a good parliamentarian. I was averaging 18 hours a day reading, reading.

“I had a staff lining up things for me to read and I’d come home with a bulging briefcase and sit down and read again...and I was trained by a great fiscalizer, Ambrosio Padilla, who was in his seat when the bell rang at five and stayed there until 11 in the evening, who asked no quarter and gave no quarter and went over every bill like a fine-toothed comb.

“Most of all I learned from Tañada. Before making an attack I’d prepare an outline of it and submit it to Tañada and he’d grade it...he was an exacting mentor, but he gave me the discipline to be a good prosecutor.”

There was a time when the names of the opposition Senators read like a roll call of historic greatness – Recto, Tañada, Manglapus, Padilla, Diokno, Rodrigo and Aquino. A far, far cry from the HERMES gang.

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