“In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle;
Be a hero in the strife.”
— A Psalm of Life
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This is a very moving invocation from one of my favorite poets since I was an elementary school pupil in that beautiful and somnolent town of Catarman, Camiguin. My father, Pedro Adaza Jr., who was a very brilliant man and an orator with the tongue of Demosthenes and the wisdom of Cicero, served our town for more than thirty years as a legendary mayor, vice mayor, chief of police, and sanitary inspector.
And he only finished Grade 7. Isn’t that amazing? He sired four outstanding lawyers, one supervising nurse in one of the biggest hospitals in New Jersey, USA, a school teacher, and an AB graduate. Of course, he could not have done it without my mother, Rufina Andoy Adaza, an iconic public elementary school teacher from Baclayon, Bohol.
My father called our town “the home of the great,” and rightly so, as it produced two legendary governors — Paciencio “Pacing” Ysalina and Homobono Andoy Adaza — and three provincial board members: Eudoxio “Doxing” Along, Ricardo “Candoy” Gabucan, and Dodoy Calingin. All of them were colorful speakers, lawyers, and singers. At that time, Catarman was part of Misamis Oriental, then a province of twenty-nine (29) towns and two cities, with Cagayan de Oro City as its capital, then and now.
Relevance: Why are my town and my father the prefatory statement of this write-up on the current controversy in the Senate? The reason is quite simple: the poem speaks of heroes and dumb, driven cattle, and my father left his four lawyer sons a gem of thought that helps make heroes. I keep repeating these ideas because they have been the components of my North Star in all decisions in life — as a private individual, as a lawyer, and as a public official.
The gem of thought was spoken in these words:
“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost.
When health is lost, something is lost.
But when character is lost, everything is lost.”
These are words that make heroes. These are the same words that separate heroes from dumb, driven cattle. When you follow these words by heart, you become a hero to yourself and to those who understand the meaning of character and principles.
If you do not follow them, you become part of the dumb, driven cattle of which there are millions in our midst. You can also become a senator in this country because most, if not all, of our senators have no character, as they follow the reverse of the first sentence of my father’s gem of thought, and that is: when wealth is lost, everything is lost.
To arrive at this conclusion, all you need to do is read their body language. In so doing, they become characters without character.
Opinion of a former senator and a lawyer: A former senator and a lawyer have offered the view that the Gatchalian and Sotto group is correct in taking over the Senate by reason of a past act or practice. Well, a provision of the Constitution cannot be overruled by an act or practice of a past Senate. To borrow the alliteration of a famous phrase by Gertrude Stein, I say to them:
A wrong interpretation is wrong, is wrong, is wrong.
A corruption is corrupt, is corrupt, is corrupt.
Well, the provision of the Constitution involved, which determines whether Cayetano or Gatchalian is right, is Section 16(3), Article VI of the Constitution, which states that for the Senate to do business, it must have a quorum, and the quorum mentioned is a majority of the Senate.
The Senate has twenty-four (24) members. A majority is thirteen (13), not twelve (12).
Gatchalian and his running dogs were only twelve (12) senators when they convened and elected Gatchalian and others. Therefore, there was no quorum because there was no majority. Thus, the twelve (12) could not legally do business, and their acts are unconstitutional, illegal, and criminal.
The acts are criminal because they allegedly violated Section 3(e) of RA 3019 and Section 4 in relation to Section 11 of RA 6713, as well as provisions on grave coercion and usurpation of public duties under the Revised Penal Code.
Majority is an English word, not Ilonggo or Tagalog.
By the way, the former senator is Franklin Drilon, who served as Secretary of Justice during the presidency of Corazon Aquino. As Secretary of Justice, without being either Congress or the Supreme Court, he created a crime not found in the Revised Penal Code or in any criminal statute, which he called rebellion complex with murder and multiple frustrated murders, and declared it non-bailable. He created this imaginary crime to justify his shoot-to-kill order against me because he suspected me of being the mastermind of the 1989 coup d’état.
When the case reached the Supreme Court, the highest tribunal rebuked Drilon by ruling that there is no such crime as rebellion complex with murder and multiple frustrated murders. Thus, Drilon is not a credible interpreter of the Constitution and our laws.
As lawyers say, Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.
My suggestion to Mr. Drilon is to take a review course in English and in constitutional and statutory interpretation.
Marcos and Duterte forces: The current Senate fight between the Cayetano and Gatchalian groups has nothing to do with the interests of our people and the country. It has everything to do with Marcos and Duterte interests. It is a struggle for power — who should go to jail over flood-control anomalies, whether Vice President Sara Duterte should be convicted by the Senate, who should be elected president in 2028, and whether the Constitution should be amended to allow Marcos to run again in 2028 or extend his term.
And the victims of this fight are the people — continuing poverty, continuing high prices, continuing graft and corruption, continuing illegal drugs and criminality, continuing deficiencies in education, continuing lack of hospitalization and medical services, continuing incompetence and inefficiency in government, continuing lack of proper values and principles, continuing ignorance, and continuing prostitution of individuals and institutions.
Battle of Incompetents: The miserable condition of our people and our country is the result of the incompetence of the Marcos and Duterte forces. They are unfit to govern. They are unfit to be trusted with government — especially with money and power. They are creatures of a failed and evil system.
They must be stopped now — CONSTITUTIONALLY, PEACEFULLY, and LEGALLY.
(Read the next article.)
