While
we are within reason to lambast Enrile and Santiago for wasting
taxpayers' time and money on their privilege speeches, let us not lose
perspective of how this ludicrous showdown came about. This has all to
do with Santiago's interpellation of Napoles during the Blue Ribbon
committee hearing on the PDAF scam. During the hearing, Santiago urged
Napoles to name the mastermind(s) behind
the scam as that is the only way she can be acquitted. And since Enrile
was involved in the scam as per the testimonies of the whistleblowers,
Santiago naturally steered her arguments in the direction of Enrile.
Needless to say, this was further motivated by Santiago’s knowledge of
the crimes Enrile has allegedly committed throughout his career as a
politician. As expected, Enrile retaliated. He could have however used
his privilege speech to clear his name of the PDAF scandal, but instead
he chose to funnel his attention on Santiago.
Santiago was
obviously provoking Enrile; but you might ask what's in it for her? She
will be leaving politics soon. She has nothing to lose. She knows gutter
talk and tirades do not sit well with a very frustrated public; but she
could be priming some kind of an endgame for her - the "Armageddon in
Philippine politics”. If Filipinos latched onto this powerful idea, it
could very well be the legacy that Santiago leaves behind. She once said
in one of her interviews, “Filipinos do not have a sense of shared
destiny”, and that we are in shambles as a nation. Perhaps, her exposé
on Enrile, though deemed by some as nothing more than a personal
vendetta, is an outright bid to put a face on our national tragedy – the
“trapos”. And who else best represents the proverbial trapo other than
Enrile himself! Until we uproot this culture of greed and apathy that
has been sown by these trapos, we will continue to be a nation in
shambles, a nation with no shared destiny.
Santiago has merely pointed us to the red button of Armageddon. I can say that was worthy of my tax.
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