The minority bloc walked out. Sen. Chiz Escudero walked in. Sen. Win Gatchalian became Senate President pro tempore. Meanwhile, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano insisted he’s still the Senate President. And the Cayetano group staged a boycott amid all this. Whew.
By the time you’re reading this, Sen. Lito Lapid, the epitome of “still waters run deep,” is probably Senate President already. And he achieved it with the least noise, thanks to his mantra: STFU—shut the f*** up.
Okay, fine. Only a miracle can make Lapid Senate President. I think he’d rather sit around, be part of the Senate decor, and represent the silent majority of Pinas. Because as of this writing he’s with the majority bloc, after Escudero transferred to Sen. Tito Sotto’s camp. That used to be the minority bloc back when Cayetano was Senate President.
Wait. What? In just a matter of days, the Senate presidency could be changed by a senator who’s married to Heart Evangelista—yes, Chiz Escudero? Ah, yes, that’s how it looked. But his walk-in made this possible: Gatchalian as Senate President pro tempore. Those last two words mean “for the time being.” You know, like: “While you’re all bickering and walking out and walking in and boycotting, may I please take over for a while?” Haha.
Following political news these days can be mindboggling. One minute, Cayetano is Senate President. The next minute, Gatchalian is Senate President pro tempore. One minute, Sen. Bato dela Rosa is in session. The next minute, he’s not. One minute, Escudero is with this team. The next minute, he’s with the other team.
Anyare, Pinas?
Meanwhile, the Pinoy is eating popcorn while watching the Senate’s “New Kids on the Bloc.” Yes—“Bloc,” as in majority bloc, minority bloc. Sans the “k.” Num num.
There’s this parlor game where players are told to group themselves into four or ten or whatever the host wants. They’ll scramble to grab players to hit that exact number, and the ones left un-grabbed and un-grouped are out. This seems to be what’s happening at the Senate now.
I googled to ask what this game is called. And guess what I discovered? It’s called “Group Hug.” So that’s what the senators are doing each time they transfer from majority bloc to minority bloc and vice versa—they’re doing group hugs. How sweet. How nice.
But there’s nothing sweet and nice about the walking out, walking in, boycotting… Behave, Senators, behave!
And the aftermath of these group hugs is trolls versus trolls. The Kakampinks trolls are inadvertently siding—oops!—with PBBM as they post their anti-Duterte and anti-DDS rants, then switch to anti-PBBM rants. The DDS trolls post their anti-non-DDS rants. The PBBM trolls post their anti-Duterte, anti-DDS, and anti-Kakampinks rants.
Am I right or wrong with this observation? Because I’m hopelessly confused already about who these trolls are supporting. More popcorn, please!
The 18 marines who revealed the “maletas” were supposed to be the breaking news when they gave their testimonies. But the focus shifted to the Senate circus. I wonder who the ringmaster was.
