Represent

Netnet Camomot .

THE House of Representatives is not a park. Therefore, the winning congressional candidate’s term won’t be a walk in the park.

With federalism now being marketed as the solution to Pinas’ problems, the more the country needs leaders whose passion to work and compassion to serve are already innate rather than acquired.

I attended an anti-chacha forum a few weekends ago. Each time chacha is the topic, I’m always tempted to say, I prefer tango.

But chacha is, of course, charter change.

Is the Pinoy even familiar with the 1987 Philippine Constitution? If not, then how can he change something he doesn’t know?

Say, if you bought a dress which looked good on you at the store’s fitting room. Then, you go home, try it on again, and—oops!—it doesn’t fit. How is that possible? Because the mirror in the fitting room made the dress look good on you. The mirror at home, on the other hand, is telling the truth and nothing but the truth. So, you return the dress to the store whose sales staff will ask you why, and you reply, It’s the wrong size, it’s not comfy, it reveals my bilbil.

In other words, it’s easier for the Pinoy to return a dress to a Pinoy store compared to changing a Constitution he has not even read.

Former entertainer/government official Mocha Uson posted a video last year on “pepedederalismo” where blogger Drew Olivar danced to “Ipepe, ipepe. Idede, idede. Ipede, pede, pede, pederalismo!” Hmmm. Should we say, Yay?

And Uson has made good on her threat to run as a senatoriable or representative wannabe, and chose the latter under the AA-Kasosyo party-list which had a pork-barrel-scam connection once upon a time. Hay naku, Mocha. Pag-Google pud ‘pag may time. Unless she was aware of the pork-barrel-scam connection but went ahead with her threat, anyway.

The party-list system has provided another way for political wannabes to join the fray, and for political dynasties to broaden their horizons, er, to sate their compassion in serving the madlang pehpohl.

There are many arguments against the party-list system but the wise party-list representative can always justify the country’s need for his pork barrel, er, budget allocation.

The “party” in party-list may encourage its representative to party the whole weekend by using his budget share, thus, defeating the purpose of having a party-list to empower the madlang pehpohl.

A veteran politician may hop from one position to another and from one place to another. Once he has been there, done that, he can then form a party-list and pretend it’s for a marginalized group.

In politics, a been-there-done-that story is not a sign for the politician to stop. In fact, he can even use that as proof of his experience in leading the country.

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile has even proven that age doesn’t matter at all, and no one’s ever too old to serve. Or should that be, no one is ever too detained to serve. He and his fellow former detainees/senatoriables Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla have remained relevant despite their alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam. If they’ll win this year, that will be a big slap in the Pinoy’s face.

Politicians won’t be afraid to steal from the national treasury anymore now that Enrile, Estrada and Revilla are seemingly as free as a bird. Happy days are here again. Yay.

“An honest politician is an oxymoron,” as the saying goes. “An honest lawyer is an oxymoron,” another saying goes. So, does that make the politician who happens to be a lawyer the most dishonest of all? But a lawyer is expected to easily morph into a politician since he’s used to public speaking and verbosity. Better vote for the lawyer than the actor who was detained for his alleged pork-barrel-scam connections.

In case you haven’t noticed, among the three former detainees, the only non-showbiz celebrity is Enrile. Estrada and Revilla are best friends and were—are?—action stars that belong to showbiz families whose patriarchs were also action stars. Two peas in a pod. And the pork-barrel-scam allegations against them have somehow added one more common denominator to their friendship. I wonder what they talk about when no one is looking.

Meanwhile, the word “representatives” is sometimes “misspelled” as “representathieves” and congressmen don’t seem to mind anymore. They should protest against the cruel nickname if they’re not stealing from the national treasury yet.