Showmanship at the Senate

Nothing surprised me about the outcome of the performance yesterday of Chief Justice Renato Corona. Not to brag, but I knew all along that he would be staging a grand production that would somehow end in a hospital. See? That was also the refuge of many others who got into a tight spot, and that was what his appointer and patron also did.

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Oh what a beautiful tale he wove while using up about an hour, maybe more, of the trial time to perorate on his family’s circumstances. I wondered, though, why Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, who heads the panel of senator-judges, gave him all the leeway to talk and talk and talk, despite several reminders about the time he was taking. But I’m sure it was all calculated, like all the other dramatic moves he had been taking ever since the impeachment trial began.

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Note how he had tried to evoke sympathy and call attention to his religiosity by having all those highly publicized masses, all covered by TV, being showered with holy water by a priest. Between us girls, only, I was always afraid that the holy water drops that fell on him might sizzle on his skin. There was that last-minute publicized photo of him hugging a granddaughter – oh what brilliant propaganda that was!

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And yesterday, after sorrowfully narrating all about his simple life, no maids, no luxuries (only condominiums), no dollar accounts kuno, he lashed out at the president, even the prosecutors and the Ombudsman, to get pity from the people for his alleged persecution. He even lashed out at the relatives of his wife who were made to appear like the contravidas. What will Sister Flory have to say to that?

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As I mentioned before, it’s not his fault that he has the kind of face that does not seem to manage to look innocent. He slammed what he called hatred and anger being shown. But he cancelled all or any sympathy he might have evoked with all the dramatics when he showed his disdain for the impeachment court by walking out like their master. His counsels were in a flurry, but quickly remembered to cover up by saying he had hypoglycemia. Why didn’t they just give him a lollipop or a bottle of coke regular, then?

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Anyway, I listened to only a portion of his perorations and only learned about the walkout later. Which, as I said before, did not surprise me at all. Why Enrile allowed him to prattle on and on, when he already said he was addressing the “sambayanan” (and not them?), I can’t understand. Poor Enrile he must have felt the insult more than the prosecutors, since he was the one who allowed himself to be tricked into letting the cagey Midnight Man to put one over on him by granting him a “privilege speech”.

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Don’t be surprised if Corona does not appear tomorrow. I think he now feels he has outsmarted them all. A sympathetic doctor will surely declare he is unfit to return to the court, although at the start of his performance, it was also announced that he was calm and not at all nervous or anything like that. I just hope his doctors will not say that his ailment is something that needs to be treated abroad. That will be the day!

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Well, let us turn to other matters, like the Lady Gaga show that only got more tickets sold probably because of the protests against it. In fact, she performed again last night, also to a full house. The spirit of contradiction, you know. Let’s also concentrate on Jessica Sanchez, who is now just a step away from snatching the American Idol title. Will she make it? I have the feeling that she will, after the elimination of Joshua Ledet who was black. The last man standing is white Philip Philipps, and there has been criticism that the idols were mostly Caucasian. This will come up again if Philip wins, but not with Jessica, since she is Pinay-Mexican, and looks more Asian instead. Let’s pray for her. I learned that she always prays the rosary backstage while waiting to perform, bless her.*

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