Senators.. Gladiators..

written by Irenerose Susi

Recent events in the Senate have turned it into an arena where Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the cop that he is, accused Senate President Manny Villar as the one responsible for the “double insertion” controversy in the C-5 Extension Bill which could have made Villar a certified million peso man.

This event has placed the Senate in disarray as the administrative and oppositionist senators, again, widened their differences, and to everybody’s surprise also drove a wedge into the oppositionists’ bloc: Sen. Ping Lacson against the pro-adminstration senators and against some oppositionist senators. From both sides of the fence, senators have come to Villar’s rescue, admitting they too made some insertions in the annual national budet which placed Lacson in a fighting mood.

What is Sen. Ping Lacson’s motive? Some say the action is ill-timed. Sen. Villar has signified his intention of running as President in 2010, and so to pin him down, Lacson made the accusation, a character assassination. Note that Lacson was responsible for the loss of Mr FPJ in the Presidential derby when he refused to give way to the late actor, paving the way for GMA victory. It would seem he is at “it” again. Villar countered that this C-5 Extension is not a pet project of his, and nowhere in the document can one find his signature.

A matter of “pa-pogi points”?  Sen. Lacson, by his body language is also eyeing the presidency.  But he can not muster enough support from his colleagues as they also admitted targeting the presidency. By putting everybody down, he could be the last man standing.

And not to be outdone, presidentiables Mar Roxas, Legarda and other senators joined the fray, each carrying their swords trying to maim each other.  What the Villar-Lacson fiasco has done is to sow intrigue and disunity among all the senators. Maybe he was successful in converting the dignified and august hall of the Senate into an arena, where gladiators tried to slash each others’ throat for self-preservation: survival of the fittest…political, that is.