Press briefing

Netnet Camomot .

SEN. Sonny Trillanes loves to give press briefings while waiting for a moment to pass, er, while waiting for his arrest as he hibernates with safety and security in mind inside the Senate building.

By the time you’re reading this, “loves” may morph to past tense: loved. That is, if he’s already arrested and detained, a scenario that his fans want to prevent by rallying outside the Senate building to express their support for their idol. Kind of a teeny weeny version of the 1986 People Power. Being a certified dilawan, People Powering has become a hard habit to break for the yellow fan.

But other political colors also love press briefings and People Power revivals, their way of testing the madlang pehpohl’s gullibility, er, sentiments.

Still, by the time you’re reading this, I’ll be at a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) seminar again, no thanks to Trillanes’ CPD bill. It’s time to fight for my right to renew my Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) license sans the required CPD units. I’ll join the protesters outside the Senate building, but what will I say? I’ll be the lone anti-CPD amidst the pro-Trillanes voices which have been obviously been there, done that with rallies, they even have practices before a rally.

Trillanes has also been fighting for his rights. But they’re not about the CPD and PRC license renewal. His right to be safe and secure within the august halls of the Senate. His right to hold press briefings. His right to wait for an arrest warrant.

And then, there was that one interview on Wednesday last week where he said, “Uulitin ko ulit ito. Mr. Duterte, pumirma ka ng warrant… ay, ng waiver.” Slip of the tongue? Oops!

That’s the challenge with interviews. What could be the latest on the revocation of his amnesty? Tsk tsk. Enough already. Might as well move on to the next step which is, oh my gosh, detention! No wonder the constant press briefings. No senator wants to end up like Sen. Leila de Lima. There were three other senators jailed for, hmmm, do you remember?

“Do you remember the 21st night of September?” Oh, let’s not go there. But every Pinoy does have to know that then President Ferdinand Marcos signed the proclamation of martial law on Sept. 21, 1972.

One of the three senators I’m referring to was indeed part of those martial law years. His name: Juan Ponce Enrile, Marcos’ defense secretary and martial law administrator who later became a 1986 People Power hero along with then future President Fidel Ramos, Marcos’ Philippine Constabulary chief. Confusing? Read on.

About three decades after that rare spark of heroism, Enrile ended up in jail with fellow senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla. Three words for the three senators: pork barrel scam whose mastermind was Janet Lim-Napoles.

So, will Trillanes end up the same way? In jail, that is, but for an entirely different reason. His non-fans have been happy with this latest bad news in his life. Well, let’s see if he’s finally learning that in politics, the key to success is to be friendly with all political colors.

Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno says it best with his “kaabag, dili babag.” Perhaps it’s time for Trillanes to adopt that mantra since it’s Christmas, anyway, the perfect time to forgive and forget. Ate Shawie even has a song for that:

“Forgive and forget, forgive and forget

At sana’y huwag tayong muling magkagalit

Kapag ang tampuhan nabayaang mabukasan

Ay lalo lang lumalabo ang magkabalikan.”

Or should it be President Rody Duterte adopting “kaabag, dili babag.” I gotta feeling, though, that if ever he stops cursing and morphs into political correctness, the madlang pehpohl will suspect he’s sick.

Cursing is not always an expression of anger. Sometimes, the more appropriate word is, Oops. For example, your common sense, er, ball pen fell. You want to say, Oops! But p*t*ng in* manages to squeeze itself through your politically correct thoughts.

Or it can be another word for, Wow! Say, you’re watching your favorite band in concert, and then you turn to another fan seated beside you and tell him, ‘T*ng in*, Pare, ang galing! See? You’re on cloud nine, so, it now becomes an expression of extreme joy.

But Duterte’s non-fans are definitely not on cloud nine, and they’re now saying that the revocation of Trillanes’ amnesty is meant to make the madlang pehpohl ignore August’s 6.4-percent inflation, the weevils, the multi-billion-peso shabu shipments, the soaring rice price and foreign exchange rate, ad nauseam. Hmmm. Wag-the-dog again? Whew. Conspiracy theories galore.

In case you haven’t noticed, 6.4 seems to be the magic number—for inflation, a shabu shipment, plus the earthquake that hit Manay town, Davao Oriental on Saturday. Of course, Duterte’s non-fans immediately posted this trio on Facebook, while Trillanes was probably contemplating on holding one more press briefing.