The clown makeup is thick in today’s performance.

Yesterday, May 11, the tickets to the Senate’s circus show were sold out due to the grand spectacle that transpired inside the session hall. Headline after headline, mouths have been fed after months of seemingly still silence.

In case you missed it, on Monday, Vice President Sara Duterte was once again impeached by the House with 257 lawmakers voting in favor, 25 in refusal, and nine abstentions. With the garnered votes, the articles of impeachment were effectively sent to the upper chamber. Not long after, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano was pronounced Senate President after Sen. Vincente “Tito” Sotto III was ousted. It took place after the session began, with 13 beating nine.

The timing seems to be too convenient. Too punctual, unlike some.

In all the days Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa could have attended, his sense of duty deliberately reminded him just yesterday. After a six-month hiatus, he arrived in the Senate at 3:10 pm. But of course, an act wouldn’t be unforgettable if it didn’t have a bombshell of a surprise. And as he stepped foot inside the building, the Senator was challenged to a sprint of Temple Run with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

On the same day, the International Criminal Court (ICC) verified the legitimacy of the warrant of arrest against the senator for his role in the war on drugs during the Duterte administration. It appears that their ring leader doesn’t need to call for them; they’re already being pulled to him (unwillingly).

“Kung hindi ako pumapasok hinahanap n’yo ako, ngayong pumapasok ako tatanungin n’yo ako bakit ako pumapasok?” he responded, distraught from a bolt he never anticipated— a fracture in a rock.

May I just say, the senator was still in a frenzied state from the rush of adrenaline. With a clouded mind, it has loosened his tongue. Nonetheless, it doesn’t excuse what his words intended. To say that in public after a half-year absence is brazen.

Na para bang?!

Hearing that after being missing for months, living off Filipinos’ money, then being courageously stupid enough to request the use of the Senate Mansion with his family in Baguio City from March 26-29, despite being aware of his non-existence in parliament, is undoubtedly a way to shine the spotlight on yourself.

Now, I’m in no position to preach which party is right or wrong, who is dumber, or more illiterate than the other. To be clear, we are more divided than ever before. Like attendants of a circus show, we sit with a bowl of buttered popcorn, watching how things are playing out, viewing integral moments in the administration as some sort of recital.

As if the lawmakers of our legislative body are performers, clowns carrying out amusing exhibitions. And every scene occurring inside the Senate is pre-meditated, acting out the display for its virality. Yet, we stay seated, still watching as if we aren’t part of the joke. The idolatry spans too widely and for too long.

I am not here to call anyone DDS or BBM supporters. Because once those politically affiliated titles are stripped off, the only thing left is a Filipino. A citizen of the Republic of the Philippines. This isn’t a show or a performance we can clap for after the lights finish, because in all honesty, it never ends. Session after session, layers are continuously being peeled off. And from that? Trails are constantly being uncovered, leading to more questions than answers.

Picking fights with each other is doing nothing. It is only directing you away from the main issue, a method of deflecting from conscious thought. One needs to see beyond the height of flames coming from their acts, from the acrobatics and air trapeze that keep you on the edge of your seats.

One needs to leave the clown alley.

The Frontman