These days, we’re seeing more and more infantile behavior from our elected officials that we’ve begun to think it’s some sort of disease. Forget about being civil — it’s all about being theatrical these days.
D is for drama…and that’s so hot right now.
On Thu, Sep 15, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV turned off Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano’s microphone during the hearing conducted by the Senate Justice and Human Rights Committee, headed by Senator Leila de Lima.
Edgardo Matobato, a self-confessed ex-member of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), had made several shocking claims about the DDS being ordered to kill numerous individuals allegedly upon the orders of then Davao City mayor and current President Rodrigo Duterte.
Though he isn’t a member of the committee doing the probe, Cayetano took his turn at questioning Matobato. He took more than the allotted 10-minute time to interrogate the witness, though. This led to De Lima tagging him as “out of order.”
An ANC video shows that despite the admonition from De Lima, Cayetano continued to speak. Trillanes, who was seated beside him, reached over to turn off his microphone. (The move is at the 00:41 mark.)
For this act, Trillanes claims to have no regrets.
In an Unang Balita interview, Trillanes said, “Hindi po (ako nagsisisi). Kasi ganito po ang konteksto niyan eh. Nagiging out of order na siya… Kailangan kong gawin ‘yon para hindi sila nagsasabayan ni Sen. De Lima.”
(“I have no regrets. Because the context here is that he was out of order. I needed to do that so he and De Lima wouldn’t be talking at the same time.”)
Trillanes further pointed out that “De Lima was not familiar with the master switch in front of her which she could have used to turn off someone else’s microphone to avoid having two people speak at the same time.”
Trillanes also said that he thought Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate in the 2016 national elections, was “intentionally bombarding the witness with questions one after the other for a purpose.”
“Alam ko ‘yung intention niya. Gusto niyang ikonsumo ‘yung oras ng committee… para malihis ang atensyon,” Trillanes said.
(“I know his intention. He just wants to consume the time of the committee… so the attention is shifted elsewhere.”)
Meanwhile, Cayetano had accused Trillanes of intimidating him and even reiterated to De Lima that he wanted to sit far away from the latter at the resumption of the hearing on Fri, Sep 16.
It may be recalled that Cayetano had already raised objections to the seating arrangement after Trillanes turned off his mic.
As Ana Santos, one of our favorite journalists in the Philippines, wrote on her Facebook page about the Sep 15 smackdown:
Excerpts of the catfight at the Senate earlier:
CAYETANO: “Can I pls move? My seatmate here is intimidating me.” (Coño whiney voice)
DE LIMA: “Wag na lang kayo magtabi.” (Don’t sit next to each other.)
TRILLANES: “He’s getting irritating.”
CAYETANO: “The people voted for me. I have a right to be here. Otherwise I should just go home. My wife is waiting for me.”
At some point, De Lima literally had to stand in between the two of them and I swear I heard her say off mic, “Let’s please not do this here. May mga tao nanonood.” (There are people watching.)
It was something my mother would say to me and my sisters…when we were 10.
Amen.
Needless to say, Cayetano’s request was granted.
And we assume De Lima now knows about that master switch.
