Migz and the possibility of redemption

After Migz Zubiri was proclaimed as the 12th winning senator, my co-blogger and Inquirer colleague Manolo wrote a rather controversial column, asking Zubiri’s critics to wish him well.

I believe that those of us who have been his critics, or, to be precise, we who have been highly critical of the circumstances surrounding his election, should take the lead in wishing him well. Regardless of the circumstances under which he has finally come to assume a seat in the Senate, one can only hope he will aspire to statesmanship in the performance of his duties.

Nick of Tingog.com did not share Manolo’s view. Positing that performance was entirely different from integrity, he declined to accept Manolo’s suggestion.

Manuel seems to be putting more emphasis on the words that come out of our Fake Senator Zubiri rather than the actions that he makes. Talk is good, but a man’s actions is truly the only way we can judge him. And if his actions are for closing his eyes to the obvious cheating in Maguindanao, then how can we even start to trust him in helping lead our country.

(I found Nick’s post a day earlier even more cogent. He wrote: “Right now Migz Zubiri is on top of the world but acknowledges that he has an image problem. But screw that self analysis, the real problem with Daya na Zubiri is that he has an integrity problem. How can he redeem himself when he cannot even acknowledge the real problem of benefiting from cheating?”)

An integrity problem, indeed. Manolo waxed optimistic about Zubiri’s potential for growth, seeing the possibility that, perhaps in filing election reform legislation, he “can turn a term of scorn into a badge of pride.”

What if, precisely in order to turn a term of scorn into a badge of pride, he makes a mockery of the election process itself?

That is the substance of my criticism against Zubiri, in my column today. He has filed a cynical counter-protest against Koko Pimentel designed to turn the Senate Electoral Tribunal’s recount into the political equivalent of the Energizer bunny: something that will keep going, and going, and going …

Election reform, I think it is safe to say, is not on his mind.

The full text of the relevant passage follows:

ON THE EVE OF HIS PROCLAMATION AS THE 12th winning senator in the May elections, Juan Miguel Zubiri declared: “I just want to buckle down to work and redeem myself.”

I did not realize it then, but it seems that for the three-term congressman from Bukidnon, that declaration could only have been an either-or proposition. For him, work in the Senate and redemption must be mutually exclusive. That is to say, to keep working in the Senate, he has to do—has in fact done—the irredeemable thing. He has filed an absurd counter-protest against rival candidate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III before the Senate Electoral Tribunal, contesting the results of a jaw-dropping 73,000 precincts. (That’s one-third of the entire country.)

I do not know if the SET will give his counter-protest due course; considering that Pimentel didn’t even have enough campaign funds to show more than a handful of TV spots featuring top celebrity endorser Angel Locsin, the claim that he cheated massively is preposterous.

But Zubiri does not need to prove his allegation of election fraud. All he needs to do is tie up the SET in an interminable recount. Pimentel, who believes he was cheated in 2,680 precincts in a total of seven provinces, is confident that the review of election returns he is contesting would be completed in half a year or so. Zubiri’s protest, on the other hand, would take years to resolve.

Redemption? More like a ruthless gaming of the system. The “Senator from Maguindanao” has cynically exploited the limitations of our election rules, to hold on to his job.

Share This