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Rep.
Annie Susano of Quezon City gained instant celebrity
status on two occasions recently, when at first she
questioned the logic of electing a woman deputy speaker
for the sake of creating a “gender balance” at the House
of Representatives, and when she offered a P2-million
award for the arrest of the masterminds of the Batasan
blast that killed at least three victims that included
one congressman.
The
other day, she appealed to the public for calm and
sobriety in the face of what the business sector
considered as another blow to an otherwise improving
economy not seen for decades in many parts of Asia.
Susano
was talking about the Manila Peninsula Hotel siege of
Thursday when the group of Sen. Antonio Trillanes III
seized the second floor of the building that prompted
the police to retaliate with tanks to recapture the
soldiers earlier accused of staging a coup d’état at the
Oakwood hotel.
“Let’s
heal the nation to achieve a better country,” she
suggested, a call that reverberated even in the Senate.
Yesterday, Senate President Manny Villar Jr. said on
record that the proposed eviction of Trillanes from the
Senate for violating Senate ethics on account of his
involvement in the Peninsula siege should be looked into
after New Year, and not now when emotions are running
high.
So far,
there had been only two occasions when two members were
separately evicted from the Senate for allegedly
violating election laws on overspending. If I remember
it right, the two casualties were then-Sens. Raul
Manglapus and Sergio Osmeña Jr., both anti-Marcos
legislators.
When the
congressional assembly was reopened after World War II,
Luis Taruc, a leader of the communist Hukbong
Mapagpalaya ng Bayan, was elected to Congress along with
seven others, but they were prevented from taking their
posts as they were considered outlaws by the government.
Taruc
headed for the hills and reestablished his revolutionary
movement.
Trillanes may not probably be a reencarnated Taruc, but
still, the series of failed military uprisings, from
now-Sen. Gringo Honasan to Trillanes, does not speak
well of the economic situation in the Philippines.
The
Philippines is not actually short of rebels. In a way,
the gender debate between Susano and the House
leadership over the issue of electing another deputy
speaker just to accommodate a woman can be considered a
rebellion.
There
are 54 women representatives, the highest number in
recent Philippine history. This was the starting point
of the passionate debate on the issue of “gender
balance,” according to House reporters.
The
first woman to occupy the post was Occidental Mindoro
Rep. Ma. Amelita Villarosa, wife of former Rep. Jose
Villarosa, who—along with the “Mamburao 6” farmers—had
been sentenced to death over the killing of a political
rival’s two sons.
Akbayan
party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros, for her part, demanded
that the House accommodate a fifth deputy speaker in the
person of a woman representative.
Previously, the House had only four: Deputy Speakers
Simeon Datumanong, Arnulfo Fuentebella, Eric Singson and
Raul del Mar.
Capiz
Rep. Fred Castro warned that “sooner or later, the
members of the third sex in the House of Representatives
who will identify themselves can also demand that they
be represented by a deputy speaker.”
Susano,
who once expressed interest in running for Speaker,
cautioned against the idea of electing a woman deputy
speaker as a matter of “political accommodation.”
“The
four speakers are enough,” she told fellow lawmakers.
E-mail: raulbvalino@yahoo.com.ph |
