There are more than a hundred or so who have recklessly and imprudently, without evident pre-meditation, filed their certificates of candidacy for senators. This bunch of candidates comes from all walks of life, from families of political dynasties, to aging actors and comedians, singers and men who seem to come from other planets, perennial resurrection of Pascual Racuyal and Valentin de los Santos (who used to run every election in the fifties and seventies).
These political nincompoops should be ashamed of the great dignity of such legendary and iconic senators as Claro M. Recto, Lorenzo Tanada, Jose W. Diokno, Ambrocio Padilla, Arturo Tolentino, and Jovito Salonga. They are aspiring to wear the shoes of such great legal luminaries as Raul Manglapus, Francisco “Soc”' Rodrigo and Jose P. Laurel. And the women who are vying for Senate seats should realize that they would be occupying the hallowed seats of Geronimaa Pecson, Maria Kalaw Katigbak, Tecla San Andres-Ziga (the first female bar topnotcher), Eva Estrada Kalaw, Helen Benitez, Magnolia W. Antonino, Pacita Madrigal Gonzales-Warns, Letecia Ramos-Shahani, Santanina Tillah-Rasul and, of course, perhaps, the greatest of them all, Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Who gave you, presumptuous people, the idea that just because you are a popular actor, you can be a master of parliamentary procedure? That you can deliver an inspiring and thought-provoking privilege speech? Or that you can engage in an impressive debate in the plenary with Richard Gordon or Franklin Drilon? Just because you are a singer, you want to be a senator? What is the connection, and what would be your unique value proposition?
There are already too many wrong choices sitting now in Congress, both the Senate and the House, and still, you want to exacerbate the situation? Do you have no self-respect or pity for the nation, which shall have to pay heard-earned money in order to fund your senatorial meandering in the hallowed halls of the Philippine Senate?
Will somebody change the qualifications for the Senate? If we allow the president of the Philippines to be one who merely knows how to read and write, for God sake, let us make it more difficult to become a member of the Senate. We are becoming to be the laughing stock in the world, and even in Asia and the Pacific. We elect boxers, preachers, aging actors and husbands of popular actresses, comedians and sons and daughters of presidents and traditional politicians who dominate the political landscape with the same faces and family names.
Let us, at the very least, have self-respect, and for once, elect only the best and the finest. It is good that there is some screening of nuisance candidates. Perhaps the Comelec should conduct a mental exam or a psychiatric evaluation of some wannabees.
There is already too much garbage in the environment, too much pollution in the air. Let us not us not dump some of them in the august halls of the Philippine Senate.