A funny thing happened on the way to Sona

Cesar Gorillo .

FUNNY things do not normally happen on serious events especially on the matter of the nation’s state-of-the-nation address to be given by the man who is seen in the entire world for his seriousness to fight the drug problem.

But something funny happened for which the whole nation could either laugh or witness in total shock.

Of course, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez Jr. prepared for this event as one of the hosts, set up the venue for him to sit beside the President of the Republic of the Philippines and met President Digong on his way to the Sona to be delivered at exactly four o’clock in the afternoon. The nation waited in bated breath. But it never happened as scheduled.

Instead, what the nation saw was a small woman in red trying to occupy the seat reserved for the speaker, tested the sound system because she wanted to speak out loud but there was no sound.  She thus cupped her mouth, shouted the words, “Quiapo, Quiapo kayo diyan.  Magbayad na kayo ng utang nyo”  for which nobody heard her.  She looked for the symbol of the house, known as mace, and there was none. She then called a high-school looking boy, raised her hand and it looked like an oath was administered on her, then after that, he  made a “mano po” gesture and I then thought he was her grandson. Then others gathered around her, also made a “mano po”  gesture and I then thought they were about to conduct a prayer meeting right at the top center table in front of all the ambassadors, the congressmen, the guests and the reporters.

I looked at my watch and it registered 4:45 pm and the Sona has not yet started.

Then the camera spanned on the holding room where the President waited, with Speaker Alvarez and Senate President Tito Sotto besides him and they were just chatting at each other and I thought the President might have been waiting for his speech writer to deliver to him his copy of the Sona which he will read on the rostrum.

Then the camera spanned back on the area where the miniature woman in red was still testing the microphone, looking for the mace and gestured she could not do anything about the missing sounds and the House of Representatives symbol. So, she toured around the table, went back again, toured again, went down, went up again and then some people in Barong Tagalog and some women in very expensive ballroom attires went up, mixed around her and bussed her on the cheek. There was no Digong in sight. I then thought he might have gone to the toilet to relieve himself for some unbearable stomach problem.

I looked at my watch again and it was ticking beyond the schedule.

I never thought that 182 congressmen had decided to install former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Speaker of the House to replace Alvarez right on the day of the Sona and allow her so sit beside the President of the Republic.

Indeed, politics is one of the cruelest sports and only the strongest of hearts can withstand it.

I don’t think I have that kind of heart.