Sticks and stones…

This furor over the release now na of the Commission on Elections’ decision on the disqualification case against Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be quickly forgotten if he loses his bid for the presidency.

It will matter only if he wins and the case is still gathering dust either at the Comelec or the Supreme Court. Both the Comelec and SC are no strangers to scandal; both are notorious for lacking a sense of urgency even on matters of grave national importance. Nothing, it seems, can come between their members and their beauty sleep.

Too bad for the nation. Not all cases brought before the Comelec and the SC are created equal; some deserve urgent action. Surely the multiple petitions to disqualify the current frontrunner (according to the surveys) in the presidential race deserve that urgent action from the Comelec.

This is because, as we all know, the ruling, whether for or against Bongbong Marcos, can still be appealed before the Comelec’s entire bench and will likely reach the SC, where it might sit until the COVID pandemic is long over.

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Three Comelec commissioners retired last Wednesday. Let’s hope the basic criteria for selection of the replacements will go beyond a stint in Davao, attendance in San Beda or membership in Lex Talionis. The minimum requirements must include the ability to write decisions much faster than Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino.

Critics of Ferolino say that her stance in this case, which brings to mind those car stickers declaring, “I may be slow, but I’m ahead of you,” tends to give credence to the claim of her newly retired nemesis, Rowena Guanzon, that a senator from Davao who endorsed Ferolino’s appointment to the poll body lobbied for her to sit on the Marcos case until the pro-DQ Guanzon was out of the picture.

If true, the lobbying is a criminal offense under Republic Act 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. It’s a serious accusation, and it needs a smoking gun that can stand in court.

Unless any damning conversation has been recorded or caught on video, however, the accusation can be impossible to prove. One of the alleged parties involved may talk, but even then, the other party can deny it. Then it becomes a case of he said, she said.

Guanzon said she had identified the “meddling” senator to Senate President Tito Sotto. There are only two senators from Davao, both of whom belong to the PDP-Laban faction led by President Duterte.

So far, the two – Bong Go and Ronald dela Rosa – have been mum on the issue. As of yesterday, however, the stronger buzz was that Bato dela Rosa is it. The senator can show guileless candor, but will he open his mouth about this controversy?

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The accusation about a “conspiracy to delay” the ruling presumes that the majority vote of the Comelec’s First Division would have been to DQ Marcos, until the senator allegedly intervened.

As the supposed interference begins to take an ugly turn, Ferolino will probably dig in her heels and proceed with her thorough review of every period and comma in the petitions. All hell can break loose, but no one can make her “unduly rush” her ponencia.

With the Comelec reorganization arising from the retirement of three commissioners including the chairman, Sheriff Abas, there are questions on whether Ferolino will still be the ponencia, or whether the Marcos DQ petitions will go back to square one.

Abas himself has been caught in the crossfire, bowing out of office amid criticism that he hid his head in the sand as trouble erupted in the First Division.

Guanzon, meanwhile, has been accused of being a fishwife by supporters of the group that has fielded for the Senate the gentleman Larry Gadon, exemplar of the quality of public discourse in this administration.

As I have previously written, the incorrigible Gadon is still preferable to the cowardly trolls who hide behind the cloak of anonymity. Or the lowlifes whose going-away present for Guanzon on her last day at work was a prank delivery of P5,390 worth of Kenny Rogers meals.

Guanzon has said she is ready to plant sugarcane or tubo in her home province of Negros Occidental upon retirement. But more likely, she will embark on a voter education campaign, perhaps alongside certain groups with the same advocacy.

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Whether any voter education campaign will have significant impact in this country remains to be seen.

Marcos’ lawyer, the 92-year-old Estelito Mendoza, does not waste time on such campaigns. Instead he has a decades-long record of achieving victories where it matters – in the courts and before the Comelec.

And even if Titong Mendoza might have lost his mojo, there’s still that senator… if Guanzon is to be believed.

As Guanzon’s critics have gleefully pointed out, toilet paper now has more worth than her separate opinion on Marcos’ DQ case, which she released ahead of her retirement.

By the time this issue is resolved with finality, the 2028 general elections could be upon us.

Aimee Ferolino seems unconcerned. Sticks and stones may break her bones, but words will never hurt her – especially not those of Guanzon.