By: Atty. Marlo T. Cristobal
Migz Zubiri ouster from the Senate Presidency – its revelation and lessons.
Chiz Escudero – with him as the new Senate President, what fate awaits the nation.
Zubiri’s rueful blast that his ouster was due to his failure to obey the “order of powers that be,” obviously referring to that coming from Malacanang, and his subsequent shedding of rueful tears must both be taken as genuine reactions. And taken strictly from his standpoint, he was a victim — of betrayal or ingratitude.
There is a part of circumstantial evidence, the so-called doctrine of startling occurrence, that covers Zubiri’s reactions and proves the same as authentic.
This doctrine simply upholds human nature. Simply stated, any spontaneous statement or action done immediately before, during or after the startling occurrence, is accepted as evidence of the circumstances surrounding that occurrence. More simply explained, when you are startled by an incident, in that very moment you have no time to conceive or devise a lie but to blurt spontaneous truths about the circumstances surrounding the incident. Julius Caesar suffered the fate of being betrayed by the Senate, and a Senator, no less his close friend, Brutus, stabbed him and Caesar, surprised (or startled if you wish), blurted out, “You too, Brutus”? This statement can be introduced in court to establish that Brutus, as it were, is the assailant and was part of the Senate conspiracy. Zubiri startled by an act of betrayal and ingratitude of friends could only exclaimed similarly, “You too, Marcos”?
Here the “startling occurrence” is the sudden ouster of Zubiri brought about by his unexpected bitter backstabbing of what he thought as friends, and, more painfully, loyal friends. Zubiri’s demeanor, after having been caught in the maelstrom of a startling event, could only be taken then as genuine.
Indeed, Zubiri had all the reasons to bawl and to sob because Malacanang knew the moves to oust him by his senate colleagues, and yet did nothing to protect his grip on the senate presidency, on the contrary it extended by its silence a moral support to the coup move against him, an spectacle that indubitably exacerbated the “startling occurrence” that was eating up Zubiri. It was a painful scenario for him.
But Zubiri has nobody to blame. He is shortsighted. It should have been very clear to him that it is par for the course for Malacanang to jettison anybody, even those close to it, like former ES Vic Rodriguez of nonpareil loyalty to Marcos, and anytime, when it deems an ally is no longer useful or perceived an obstacle to its selfish political ambition. Loyalty and gratitude are totally alien concepts to that august body we call Malacanang. That’s an immoral character for a leader that our country must contend with. See how Malacanang is fawning over to Chiz Escudero and his group as it treated them as Palace guests. Toadying to this group after all may well serve Malacanang political plans.
Meanwhile, Chiz Escudero appears as a wild card politician. He has not shown fully or categorically his genuine definite political alignment. He drops statements from time to time that appertain to one side and another time to another side, like a butterfly alighting from one flower to another. But one thing l am sure of. His late father, the well known Salvador “Sonny” Escudero lll, was the Secretary of Agriculture of Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr.. lt is safe to assume then that the Escudero and Marcos families are friends, a friendship that dates back to the early 80s. Is not a caveat owing vis-avis this guy Chiz Escudero?
