Too many lawyers?

I HAD several topics in mind for the regular Monday article, such as the recently passed Maharlika Investment Fund by the Senate where likely half of the members of our “august” chamber voted yes without having any real understanding of what they passed, and the bicameral conference committee then adopted the Senate “improved” version without reading.

But several have beaten me to the draw, and I agree with most of their observations, particularly those that Sen. Chiz Escudero recited.

It will soon be signed into law, despite all the ministrations of the “absent” Sen. Koko Pimentel, and likely appealed to the Supreme Court by the usual “me-ma” who know that the tribunal will not favor them anyway with a declaration of nullity.

So now our president will be able to announce in his SONA the “promises” that the Fund will bring to our highly leveraged economy.

To be fair, Congress has passed several pieces of legislation that are indeed laudatory, such as the extension of the amnesty to allow many to settle their estate tax obligations, which Sen. Ralph Recto asked his former colleagues to expedite before the sine die.

Other laudable bills passed into law we can perhaps tackle in another column.

I also wanted to chime in my own analysis of the political goings-on, starting from the demotion of PGMA from a ceremonial perch to a lesser but equally ceremonial one.

That demotion has led to political repercussions that many see as prelude to the jousts of 2025, and the championship fight in 2028, unless constitutional change is effected.

More of that too in another article.

What got my dander up is the latest twist on the Governor Degamo assassination where I decided to wait for the unravelling of the case after it is filed before comments. Meanwhile, the vice-governor who succeeded Degamo has died of natural causes, and the numero uno bokal is now the governor.

Or is this the case when too many lawyers crowd their profession, and the justice system has become for sale?

My Negros Oriental friend observed before that Roel Degamo is the first “timawa” in the political history of the province to become governor, initially also by succession.

The province had long been led by “de buena familia” members – the Perdices, Teves, Macias clans who in their time preserved the province along with its Sillimanian culture, as a haven of peace and tranquility.

Until one fourth generation offspring of the highly-regarded Teves clan began to lord it over the beautiful province which my esteemed mentor Liling Magtolis Briones waxes lyrically about.

It is probably the sign of the times.

Or how our politics has been transformed into the monstrous mess legislated by a confused Constitution and taken over by the curse of moneydictated elections where most voters choose “the least of us to lead us.”

I watched Sec. Boying Remulla announce on television that 10 pawns of the Number One mastermind (because there is a co-mastermind), have recanted their previous testimony which identified the co-mastermind and alluded to the real mastermind.

DOJ has gone on record naming the co-mastermind as Arnolfo Teves’ bodyguard Marvin Miranda who allegedly hired the hit team.

In exchange for their recantation, they were bribed to the tune of 8 million pesos each, Sec. Boying said.

And who were the bribers? Remulla pointedly named one Atty. Reynante Orceo, a former DOJ Undersecretary.

He also accused two other lawyers who mercifully had no high DOJ credentials in their curriculum vitae.

Jaded observers like this writer are not really shocked, that one in the second tier of DOJ leadership could be involved in what their profession deems most improper.

After all, some who were “fixers” in the DOJ in their stint eventually got appointed justices, so what else is new? I hope Sec. Boying, who I know to be a straightshooter from the time we both served in the palace beside the Pasig River, has his onions right.