Quo warranto

Netnet Camomot .

THE Pinoy learns something new every day. There was the Senate hearing in aid of legislation. Then, the LPA a.k.a. low pressure area. Now, there’s quo warranto. For the Pinoy who has not moved beyond the status quo, this latest term in his vocabulary can test his love for mind-boggling current events.

The Supreme Court (SC) justices should have resorted to impeachment. At least, that’s a familiar word to the Pinoy who now has to deal with all sorts of info on his Facebook News Feed where he eventually found the breaking news on former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno last Friday.

There was an initial clamor to memorize the names of the eight SC justices who voted to grant the quo warranto petition, and there’s the Pinoy wishfully thinking they would run in a future election so he could choose not to vote for them. Hmmm.

Sereno did try to work when she returned to her office on Wednesday last week after her “wellness leave.” The day before that, she was asked about running for the Senate, and she said, “Wala pa ho akong mga planong ganoon.” After she was kicked out last Friday, her answer to the same question was, “Ang mga bagay na ‘yan, hindi ko pa pinag-iisipan. Importante ay ipunin lahat ng puwersa or lakas ng bayan na maaaring makapagpatulong para ma-advance ang democracy natin. ‘Yun ang tututukan ko muna.”

Sereno went on a “wellness leave” to prepare for her impeachment trial. Now that we know what we know, she should have stayed and continued working since there won’t be a trial anyway. Yup, the show must go on and all that jazz.

And, of course, there’s Vice President Leni Robredo expressing her support for Sereno. In a speech delivered at the University of the Philippines Diliman last May 7, Robredo said, “The quo warranto case against the chief justice is not just her fight, it’s our fight,” adding that it “can be the final blow to the ideal of justice we all depend on… It weaponizes the courts and if we allow it, a quo warranto can be used as a weapon to intimidation, to kill dissent.”

Robredo has been facing her own challenges, no thanks to vice presidentiable Bongbong Marcos who believes he lost due to “massive cheating.” A recount is ongoing at the Supreme Court where wet ballots were discovered. The wet ballots are from Camarines Sur, Robredo’s territory. “They’ve only been recently wet,” Marcos said. “If they were wet during election day, siguro natuyo na ‘yun—hindi naman siguro two years na basa ‘yun. May nagbasa.” Oh, rainy season is here?

Politics is such a dirty—and, okay, wet—world that a non-politician should avoid. If a private citizen does feel the need to be a public servant, then, hopefully he won’t turn into a traditional politician once he wins.

You probably know the new set of barangay chairperson and councilors in your neighborhood by now. Does each of them live in your barangay? That’s the question. Try visiting the barangay hall, look for one of the winners, and wait for the secretary there to accidentally tell you what’s supposed to be a top secret: Dili gyud to kaanhi diri karon.

Of course, you ask, Ngano man?

Secretary: Tua man gud siya sa iyang balay.

You: Aha diay siya gapuyo?

Secretary: Sa Banaue.

Bwahahaha! A Cagayan de Oro barangay official living in Banaue. Is that possible?

The secretary continues to reveal more: Pero ang ilang ancestral home naa diri.

You: Duol ra?

Secretary: Tua sa Opol, Misamis Oriental.

Juice colored! Pasayloa!

Well, better watch “Avengers: Infinity War” again for the Banaue Rice Terraces which I missed the first time. But I didn’t expect to still like the movie this second time around. After all, I already knew why—spoiler alert!—some superheroes morphed into ash once Thanos had the complete set of Infinity Stones.

But for five of the original “Avengers” cast—Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), and Chris Evans (Captain America)—it’s an Avengers logo tattoo, and not the Infinity Stones, to celebrate the release of “Infinity War.” Mark Ruffalo (Incredible Hulk), however, didn’t join them. Hulk said no in the movie, and Ruffalo said no to the tattoo. That’s, uh, mind-boggling?