The Muppet Show

Yes, it was a great show indeed, the attempted power- grab headlined by aspiring action- drama star Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and his sidekick cashiered Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in the Philippines’ Financial district last Thursday morning.

It began as a promising day of film shoot in a very nice location for them, complete with a script that will give Hollywood movies a run for their money; From the synchronized court room walkout to their dramatic march under the rain towards their objective in Makati , ably backed by a supporting cast of personalities from the Left, Right, Clergy, Civil Society and even the Senior Citizenry.

Their fans applauded on the sidelines as every thing seems to be working according to plan and the show is destined to be a box office hit with no less than a glorious romp in the mecca of make believe that is Malacanang as a fitting award.

The supporting casts were no pushovers either. They were the crème de la crème of the political fantasy world--

--Characters like JV Bautista, Argee Guevara, Ex- VP Teofisto Guingona, Bibeth Orteza, Linggoy Alcuaz, Former UP President Dodong Nemenzo, Herman Tiu Laurel, Day Olaguer- Montayre, Eillen Tordesillas, Fr. Robert Reyes and Bishop Julio Labayen just to name a few who once upon a time were from the opposite ends of the political spectrum and normally do not see eye-to- eye with each other but have now joined forces and have put their great minds together in this epic production for a shot at full stardom and the ultimate prize of being on top of the Filipino pecking order.

Yes Sirs and Mesdames, way up there over the heads of ordinary Filipinos like you and me who they deemed were not bright enough and enlightened enough to know and understand the real state of the nation.

You see, these sorts of characters and clowns who fashioned themselves as worthy alternative to the tenant of that big house by the Pasig River were themselves a bunch of shameless shams. They are forever part of the so- called elite circle of patriotic Flips planning and producing one telenovela after another from the time the real McCoy was flown into Hawaii, USA instead of Paoay in Ilocandia by the US Navy Pilots who misheard (he-he) the former for the latter to the present height (oops, no pun intended) of the Gloria administration.

And mind you, knowing the extent of the knowledge of geography by the Americans where about 4 in 5 of its citizens can't even find their great nation on a map, I am not surprised at all on why the late strongman in his moment of weakness in '86 was spirited out of the country to do the Hula instead of being brought to the waiting arms of his Genuine Ilocanos up north to sing his favorite Pamulinawen.

By the way, these elite circle members whose track records can speak volumes about their nature and true colors will not stop until the day they die of trying to achieve their long cherished dream of subjugating the beautiful people of the 7, 107 islands nation to their corrupted version of the gospel.

Well, Get Rich or Die Tryin' eh? Rapper 50- cent proved that it can be done in the HipHopDom, so the logic goes that it can also be done in FlipDom- Not!

I am not a fan of PGMA but I would rather have her at the helm of the nation than these cretins and the shadowy group that they represent. That old Maoist doctrine that power comes from the barrel of the gun doesn’t hold water to me as well as to the millions of Filipinos time and again.

Otherwise those who have attempted and tried the same tactics in the past would have succeeded by now. I say, you can say anything and everything about our failures and shortcomings as a race but Filipinos don’t tolerate Utak- Pulburas in our midst.

These political junkies masquerading as saviors of the unenlightened Filipinos have once again done a great disservice to our country by resorting to this kind of blind adventurism obviously without thinking of the consequences of their actions to the lives of the long suffering population who are already burdened by their daily struggle to eke a living. They once again have done things that will cause havoc to our already stagnant economy just to advance their own naked interests.

Anyway, nobody else could have written a better script fit for the silver screen that could have earned a huge payback in the end. What with a young disgruntled ex- soldier that was catapulted to the Senate by virtue of the 11 million votes he got from the “intelligent” Pinoy voters in the lead role and a "charismatic" West Point graduate and a former Commanding General of the elite Scout Rangers as his sidekick, they can do no wrong or so it seems.

It was a surefire formula for a blockbuster that was supposed to break all the existing records of Philippines Cinema if you ask me. But the beautiful script received an “X” rating from the hands of the board of censors to the horrors of the writers, actors and producers alike.

And so the action- thriller was hastily re-written by the local enforcers that contributed to the unexpected ending that turned a promising action- thriller into a trashy comedy that will put Enteng Kabisote and his minions to shame.

It was a laughable act indeed by Trillanes, Lim and company from the political point of view but the damage to the economy and our already bad reputation abroad as a people was no laughing matter.

And there lies the rub.



It’s a good thing though that the authorities were determined to end the comedy of errors the shortest possible time and handled the situation quite well, the Media’s whining and grumbling notwithstanding.

Actually, the straight shooters in the PNP have done us a great service by sparing us, kibitzers, the agony of having to sit down in front of the idiot box for hours and hours of non- action while trying to laugh at the stale one- liners that these comedians spit from their mouths from time to time.

Long the butt of jokes by the citizenry for being Pulis- Patolas, they should be commended this time for sparing us from that frequent trips to the toilet or for preventing us from having horrible hemorrhoidal eruptions or even experiencing nasty cases of flatulence in the end.

I just hope that these comedians should be taken to task for their misadventures. We don’t need these loonies roaming around town. They should be taken back to the Looney House where they could sing their Looney Tunes till kingdom come without bothering anyone. And throw the keys away for good measure. I’m sure the Philippines will be better off without them.

Oops, please excuse me while I go to the loo.