EDITORIAL - Sabah, Philippine history, same-sex unions, cable cars, contractual workers, etc.

Neophyte Senator Robinhood Padilla seems eager to jump into his job, he has already indicated he is willing to take up several issues. One of these is in pushing for government to assist the heirs of the last sultanate of Sulu in asserting their commercial rights over Sabah in Malaysia, specifically the “rental payment” they are due.

“Bilang mga Pilipino, karapat-dapat na tulungan ng buong kapangyarihan ng ating pamahalaan ang mga tagapagmana ng Sultanato ng Sulu katulad ng pagtulong nito sa kahit sinong mamamayan sa loob at labas ng bansa,” Padilla said during a privilege speech.

He raises a good point, this issue has been on the table for some time with no resolution in sight, although a French arbitration court recently ruled that the Malaysian government should pay the heirs of the sultan of Sulu $14.92 billion for the rental payment.

It is also worth mentioning that at least Senator Padilla seems to see the bigger picture; he is focusing on pursuing the payment of rent for the land, as opposed to another politician who said he will pursue getting Sabah itself back from Malaysia if he won as president.

It is also a more substantial issue when you consider that “anti-ghosting” measure a lawmaker proposed recently.

However, when we considering how Senator Padilla also recently --and out of the blue-- taken up the cudgels for same-sex unions, pushed for cable cars as a solution to the traffic in Metro Manila, then filed a measure to return Philippine history to the high school curriculum, then filed a measure that will make it possible for contractual state employees to become regular workers without civil service eligibility we cannot help but wonder if he is just casting a wide net in his pursuit of “advocacies” just to make himself more visible.

It’s a common strategy among politicians; see which issue gets the biggest splash and ride it.

But then again it could also be that he has his heart set on this latest one, considering he is a Muslim.

It is good that he is eager to stand up for many relevant issues. However, he better be ready to explain and defend his position on each and every one of them. Last we heard he was still struggling with English on the Senate floor.