Hopeless senatoriables

AS I was listing my choices for the coming senatorial and local elections, I fe lt a sense of hopelessness. There are only two people on my list:

• a very old man who should have retired but felt that no one ca n fill in his shoes yet; and
• someone who dared not to be proclaimed by presidents he previo usly asked to resign (nevertheless, if he is not married to a megastar he would not have that "principle."

All the rest were⦠enough to make me feel that I should start joining the queu e to Canada, Australia, New Zealand or wherever. Among "senatoriables" there ar e turncoats on all sides, people with no principles, no platforms, and no polit ical parties.

• We have bright young lawyers who talk too much but work too li ttle (if they did their homework, they could have impeached GMA)â¦
• We have returning political veterans who never achieved anythi ng substantial other than spark EDSA Dos by blocking the opening of the se cond envelopeâ¦
• We have children and relatives of heroes⦠but we all have her oes' blood in all of usâ¦
• We have millionaires who swindled banks, depositors and house buyers to accumulate wealth (sipag at tyaga⦠at maraming pag balimbing)â¦
• We have populists⦠they do not understand a single word they are harking (ever thought about the consequences of abolishing VAT or not paying our national debt)â¦
• We have local government officials who came from provinces tha t are not known for their progress or unparalleled developmentâ¦
• We have political neophytes with no clear understanding of the legislative processâ¦
• We have glorious men in uniform whose greatness was shot down because of women in their lives (one was asked by his mother to stop a mut iny, the other was caught in his female friend's house)â¦
• We have action stars who brawl on national TV and it is not pa rt of a movie or a showâ¦
• We have a dumb bar topnotcher who disgraces two universities w ith his un-common sense

(From INQUIRER podcast interview: OK, since I'm a lawyer, and I know the ba sic structure of our government. I'm running for senator, that's the legislativ e branch. The case of Estrada belongs to the judicial branch, and there is a wa ll of separation between the two branches. Then, well as an aspiring senator I should not comment cases pending before courts. I will let the justices of the Sandiganbayan... objectively and impartially decide the case of president Josep h Estrada. But since, on a personal note, since Erap is my wedding sponsor, ninong ko, I wish him all the best, and my wish is for him to be acquitted.)