Kap’s Amazing Stories?

Finally. After six months of agonizing silence, Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. delivered a privilege speech at the Senate today, following the footsteps of his co-accused senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada. 

Revilla with alleged pork barrel queen, Janet Lim-Napoles (woman to his right) and co-accused Senator Jinggoy Estrada (wearing blue shirt, seated in front of him). (Image credit)

To summarize his speech, Revilla denied accusations that he was involved in the pork barrel scam and denounced the Aquino government’s “political wrecking crew.” (You may read the full text here. You may watch the video below.)



However, due to the name-calling such as “Boy Pirma,” “Boy Xerox” and “Boy Pick-Up,” mouthing an expletive (“Anak ng teteng,” which according to Teddy Boy Locsin appears to be a clever way of saying S.O.B.) and quoting a Biblical verse as a conclusion, I really wondered if this speech was actually a spiel from the honorable senator’s TV show, “Kap’s Amazing Stories.” 

For example, he shared his recent encounter with a teary old man in a restaurant in Tagaytay. According to Revilla, he was surprised when the old man tapped him on his shoulders and while holding his hands tight, exhorted him to fight and never give up. To be candid, I could not really believe that, with his bodyguards, one can just approach the senator in a public place.

But, make no mistake. The script was well written. “His critics dismissed his speech as theatrics; others took note of the fact that it was the first time any politician implicated in this biggest corruption scandal directly and specifically challenged the administration’s claim on taking the straight path. Analysts were also quick to point out that Revilla delivering his privilege speech in Filipino, using street language like ‘Anak ng teteng,’ and presenting a yellow toy truck as visual aid for the supposedly sparse evidence against him were good strategies to connect to the D and E classes, his voters base.” (Source: Rappler) 

'TRUCKLOAD OF EVIDENCE.' Senator Revilla mocks the justice department, saying the evidence against him did amount to a truckload of documents, a toy truck that is. (Image and caption credit)

Apparently, this is damage control still with an eye on 2016. He claimed that the pork barrel issue was “a calibrated plan of piece meal and serial revelations aimed to create a bandwagon of hatred” against those who, like him, could become “a thorn in the flesh” (“tinik sa lalamunan”) to the administration. (Ibid)

More than defending himself, Revilla went for the offensive. “The hour-long speech, however, said little to answer allegations of misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund and delved mostly into what he said was the administration’s capability – and propensity – to bend the rules to protect allies and destroy political rivals.” (Ibid) Sadly, just like Senator Estrada’s so-called “peanut butter defense,” Revilla tried to hide behind this administrations failure instead of focusing on explaining how he allocated his pork barrel. 

Yet, remember that one can only hide behind something that is bigger than him.

Simply put, he is smaller than his cover.