Illustration: Paul Eric Roca
We fund Congress – yes, we, the people, out of the taxes and revenues collected from our pockets – to make laws and conduct inquiries in aid of legislation. But apparently, it’s also become a venue of choice to stage wedding proposals. If you haven’t yet heard of Magdalo Rep. Ashley Acedillo’s marriage proposal to longtime girlfriend, Ma. Paz Ocampo, in the middle of a debate on the 2014 Budget, it’s time you crawled out from under that rock before toadstools sprout from your nostrils. The budget deliberations were suspended for a short while last Friday to give the good Congressman a chance to put the question to his lady.
Now, here at Coconuts Manila, we’re all about true love and happily ever after and all that jazz. But we can’t help wondering: surely there are more romantic – and more appropriate – venues for such significant life events?
But it was only for a short while! Some of you hopeless romantics must be saying. “The budget was passed the next morning!” We hear you, honest. But really, it’s not about how much time the proposal took, but the fact that it was held there at all, and with the involvement of other members of the House. What’s next? The flash baptism of some newborn heir to a political dynasty? A quick renewal of marriage vows before the House votes on a crucial bill? Maybe one of the esteemed members wants a three-minute break to do the Dance of Joy after a long-awaited annulment, so he can marry his youngest, prettiest mistress? It’s a slippery slope, we say, and where do you draw the line?
Still, this little stunt, lovely and well-intentioned as it may have been, is just a minor side show in the three-ring circus that Congress has become – or rather, has been, for decades. A circus of sex-tape investigations, nonsensical debates on reproductive health, plagiarized speeches, and pork-barrel politics. Set against this backdrop, the good Congressman’s proposal seems like a breath of fresh, rose-scented air in the musty halls of the Philippine legislature.
But still. That rose-scented air doesn’t belong there. It belongs on a yacht, maybe, or a restaurant overlooking a lake, the moonlight shimmering softly over rippling waters, a lone violinist playing La Vie en Rose, champagne cooling in a bucket and a whopper of a diamond ring chilling inside a Baked Alaska. Not in – all together now, boys and girls – the musty halls of the Philippine legislature.
Recently, broadcast personality, musician and poet Lourd de Veyra and his sidekick, Jun Sabayton, were criticized for posing in front of the Senate’s Official Seal while, er, executing the one-fingered salute. Some netizens said the popular multi-media personality had no right to disrespect the institution. But others sprang to their defense, saying that the Upper House is populated with “criminals”, and that its members have “corrupted” the institution – so what else is there to respect?
It’s hard to say which side is right. We here at Coconuts Manila are all about respect for institutions (when we’re not all about true love and all that jazz, that is). But right now, with all this talk about lawmakers stealing from public coffers, and their chiefs of staff hightailing it out of the country, it’s become virtually impossible to take Congress seriously. It’s like a line you might say in the midst of a toxic love affair: We want to respect you, sweetheart, but you make it oh, so hard.
