A tri-lingual hearing

What an embarrassment it must be to the family of Senator Lito Lapid to know that his wife, Marissa, had been arrested for, all of charges, smuggling dollars into the United States. The strange thing is that she knew she was already facing a case there upon her arrest last September, but she still travelled there on January 15, straight into the hands of the police. Now she has reportedly been fitted with a monitoring anklet that tells the police of her whereabouts. And she also cannot leave Las Vegas where her case has been filed.

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Of course the senator will hire the best lawyers to defend her, while at the same time, he assures the media that she has money of her own, being a good businesswoman. Maybe she is good in business, but just does not have the right instincts. Reports say she told the Las Vegas police that the $50,000 found on her will be used to buy things for her house, but back here, her husband was seen and heard on TV saying the amount was for her medical consultation there. Maybe they are thinking of seeking hospital arrest for her? Will it work over there?

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Speaking of medical matters, people are wondering if Senator Miriam Santiago’s blood pressure has gone down to normal so she can come and bully more people in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona. Everywhere, people are quoting from her tirades directed at the hapless prosecutors, like “I might lose my temper with you” or “Answer yes or no – I am tired of hearing your voice”. My, one would think she was scolding her household helpers! And, most intriguing of all: I’m a judge, I preside here!” Oh, oh. What did Presiding Judge Senator Juan Ponce Enrile have to say about that? Didn’t he feel intimidated?

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One can only wonder what the general public has concluded from the way La Miriam is treating the prosecution lawyers. Are her body, and oral language giveaways? And was her impatience with them the cause of the soaring of her blood pressure, or the amassing of damning evidences as revealed by Bureau of Internal Revenue records that upset her? Meanwhile, many taxpayers are now wondering how they can duplicate the feats of the Corona family when they file their own income tax returns this year.

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In an interview, however, Corona stressed that he will not give up the post to which the former president had appointed him and that he will “defend the judiciary” from attacks “until death”. But nobody has exposed the statement of assets and liabilities, or the tax deficiencies of the judiciary, so how does it get into the picture? This is getting to be as confusing as the tri-lingual hearing where people switch from English to Tagalog and spit out Latin terms at will.

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Meanwhile, in his State of the Union delivered before his people recently, United States President Barack Obama revealed plans to tax the rich people more in order to help the less privileged. Has he been reading about Robin Hood recently? Is that where he got the idea of “robbing the rich to give to the poor”? That sounds rather unwise of him because elections are nearing and it is the rich who contribute more to the campaign kitty of candidates. Unless, of course, his kitty is already overflowing.

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The political adviser of President Aquino was caught by a photo-journalist while buying pirated DVDs from a mall in Quezon City. The photo got into print, and now Ronald Llamas is in trouble, and even getting his boss implicated for allegedly belittling his offense. What about the head of the agency supposed to be running after the producers and sellers of the colorum DVDs? Haven’t his people gone around Quezon City lately? As for Llamas, let’s hope he was not buying pornographic DVDs, or he will have other agencies after him, too.

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Australia Day was celebrated the other day, January 26. I hope the celebration was not marred by the floods that inundated several parts of the country on that day, especially in New South Wales, where many riverbanks were broken. In Queensland, reports said, landslides also swept down in several areas causing hundreds of roads to be closed. As of Thursday, evacuation was going on and dozens were being rescued. What a day!*

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