I think all of you should forget Desperate Housewives and Jon Stewart and instead concentrate on this.

Enrile sends college student shaking in fear

By AUREA CALICA

The Philippine Star

The demeanor of Sen. Juan Ponce-Enrile during a hearing at the Senate on Friday sent one student who went to watch the proceedings trembling in fear.

Mark Jemel Galez, 19, a broadcast journalism student of La Salle-Dasmariñas, Cavite, drew the ire of Enrile for taking photos of the senator using his handy video camera.

Enrile got peeved and asked the student: “Who are you? Why are you taking my picture? Come here.”

Galez went a bit closer to Enrile to explain but his voice was too soft to be heard by the crowd. Enrile later reportedly told him “to get out of this room.”

Enrile said people should not be taking photographs without permission. The student went to his seat but immediately went out when signaled to do so.

The senator went on with his tirades, saying, “My face is ugly enough I don’t want it to be seen in pictures.”

After the hearing, Enrile approached the fellow students of Galez and told them that “if something happens to me, you will all be responsible.”

Some reporters who went to talk to Galez said the student seemed so nervous that he was shaking.

He was also obviously embarrassed because many people witnessed the incident, which ironically, occurred during the hearing of the budget of the Commission on Human Rights.

During a recent hearing on the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, businessman and special envoy Donald Dee also received a tongue-lashing from Enrile for supposedly being pushy and “threatening” in his defense of the accord.

Enrile told Dee to “get the hell out of here” if he would continue to compel senators to approve the JPEPA.

Aside from Enrile, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago is also known for her strictness in holding hearings.

She said she would cite for contempt anybody caught with his cellular phone on during hearings.

The senator once lost her cool because people kept on going in and out of a room where she was holding a hearing on the budget of one department.

Santiago said she did not like getting distracted by people and Senate staff “acting like senators” and disrespecting ongoing proceedings.

(Jhay Rocas, the student’s a school mate of yours.)

Mr. Enrile must be forgetting something. While he is a senator, he is supposed to serve the people, not make them cower in fear just because he was peeved. As they say in Filipino, tumandang walang pinagkatandaan; or tumatandang paurong.

He doesn’t want to be seen in pictures? Heh. He should have not run and instead hide his “ugly” (his own word) face.

I call on Mr. Enrile to apologize to the student, who was doing nothing wrong. Your action is uncalled for and unbecoming of a senator of the Republic. Your action smacks of arrogance that is misplaced. You are first and foremost a public servant, senator second. How dare you, Mr. Enrile!

I call on every Filipino to condemn Enrile’s actions. I call on every Filipino to take Enrile to task. I call on every Filipino to demand an apology from Enrile for his arrogant actions against his fellow Filipino, a tax payer who pays Enrile’s salary and pork barrel.

PS: If you have time, please blog about this, about your sentiment about Enrile’s action. Spread the word.