A dying breed

Joker Arroyo lived up to his first name; he had a great sense of humor.

Sometimes the humor could be nasty. Joker was the rare man whose colorful vocabulary could match that of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago. Senator Miriam called her detractors “fungus-faced.” As President Cory Aquino’s executive secretary, Joker once called certain lawmakers “excuses for abortion.”

But more often it was just benign ribbing between Joker and us, the brats of the Cory-era Malacañang press corps. Walking around the Palace without socks, he was friendlier than President Cory’s favorite speechwriter Teddy Boy Locsin, who called us “brain-dead.”

Joker was one of only two individuals I personally know who, when they were senators, did not use secretaries to make phone calls. The other is former Senate president Jovito Salonga, Joker’s kindred spirit in the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship.

The venerable Jovy Salonga, now about 95, has outlived Joker. Age and illness have made it necessary for Salonga to rely on others to move around. But both of them are among the last, it seems, of a breed that brought honor to or at least engendered respect for anyone who managed to become a senator.

For many decades, the Senate drew the nation’s best and brightest. It was a staging point for aspirants for the presidency. It was where exceptional Filipinos showed the nation they had the capability – and not just a privileged surname – to take on greater responsibilities in national life. Lawmaking was taken as a serious responsibility requiring topnotch qualifications.

Several of the country’s presidents were propelled to Malacañang after shining in the Senate. (Noynoy Aquino was also a senator in 2010, but let’s face it, his election was due largely to his mother’s death than to his work as a senator.)

The Senate gave us the likes of Ninoy Aquino and nationalist Claro M. Recto. Compare them with the current crop of senators. Where are the likes of the late Lorenzo Tañada? Our nation is diminished by their loss.

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Joker Arroyo, when he was senator, would call me every year, without fail, to brag about being once again the Senate “Scrooge” – getting difficult work done with the lowest expenditures.

As recent developments have shown, that was no trivial accomplishment. He was the consistent Scrooge not only because he scrimped on the use of people’s money but also because he eschewed the pork barrel long before its misuse by senators and congressmen became a national disgrace.

As head of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, Joker set the example in forgoing his pork barrel allotment. Only Panfilo Lacson did the same thing. That they thrived as senators shows that the pork barrel system is unnecessary for individual members of Congress.

The Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel germinated during the Cory Aquino presidency. The Disbursement Acceleration Program was rolled out during the second Aquino administration. Both the PDAF and DAP, struck down by the Supreme Court, have been linked to political wheeling and dealing, which have given Filipinos an unsavory image of the typical senator or congressman.

With the pork barrel scandals and all the venal politicians around, Joker the Scrooge’s epitaph could be: “He fought for human rights, and he said no to pork.”

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These days, look at the clowns and crooks who have been sent to the Senate. The chamber has become a family business, and you can only guess why. In a 24-member chamber, there are two half-brothers, a brother and sister, and numerous lawmakers perpetuating the family dynasty.

Two senators are being held without bail for large-scale corruption; a third is out on bail. The chamber is used freely for perpetual political inquisition.

Lawmaking no longer requires exceptional knowledge of the law. Today all that a lawmaker needs is expertise in going around or breaking the law. People aspire to join the legislature so they can be exempt (they hope) from the law – and get richly paid for it.

Today if you want a sure seat in the Senate, all you have to do is appear regularly in “AlDub.” Even plagiarism can be erased by a wildly popular TV show.

Because lawmaking has been dumbed down, we now have interesting characters applying for the Senate.

What makes Manny Pacquiao, for example, think he deserves to be a senator, after his chronic absenteeism and dismal performance as a congressman representing Sarangani? That’s not even his home province but his wife’s. In 2007, he got whupped by the petite Darlene Antonino-Custodio the first time he ran for the House of Representatives in his home turf, General Santos City and the first district of South Cotabato. Dynasty trumped boxing fame.

Pacquiao may be a boxing icon, but Filipinos who excel in certain fields should realize their limitations and have the nationalism if not the good sense to avoid inflicting themselves on the public if they’re not qualified for a particular job.

There are even people who think they can beat an easy path to the Senate by giving away women as gifts, and the administration has come to the defense of the gift-giver. Only daang matuwid and men with a propensity for paid sex and one-night stands will defend a public twerking and dry humping show.

There are stringent academic and other requirements for entering the judiciary, whose members interpret the laws, and even for those who want to join the military and police. Why are the requirements for becoming a lawmaker nearly non-existent?

Legislation is complicated, challenging and crucial to national progress. We need laws that will enable our nation to survive, compete and excel in a highly competitive globalized environment.

Yet here we are, with unworthy people scrambling to win a job whose heavy responsibilities they are only dimly aware of and care little about.

Do we think lawmaking is a joke?

Joker Arroyo did not. He had his detractors all the way to his final days when he came to the defense of old friends. But he brought honor to lawmaking. We’re hoping he’s not a vanishing breed.