‘Boses ng Senado’
By Aries C. Rufo
Newsbreak Staff writer

Every Wednesday, a five-man group of senators meets somewhere either for lunch or dinner. Depending on the mood of the day, they would talk about politics, policy issues, or simply socialize over red wine.

All neophyte senators, four of them became friends as early as the 2001 senatorial campaign when they ran under the ruling coalition. The fifth member of the group, Noli de Castro, went solo during the campaign as an independent.

De Castro seems the odd man out in this Wednesday clique. For one, he doesn’t have the academic credentials that this group has a bounty of. He doesn’t have the political savvy of Joker Arroyo, the business acumen of Manuel Villar, the legal background of Francis Pangilinan, and the economic training of Ralph Recto.

But he tops them all where it matters most: public acceptance.

This hasn’t earned him unqualified admiration, however. Many still dismiss him as just another talking head.

Yet to his Wednesday family, he’s more than that. "In the Wednesday group, we all have our respective ‘roles,’" Recto told Newsbreak. "And Senator De Castro is our public barometer." De Castro has great instincts on the public pulse, which comes in handy when the group needs to decide on certain issues, according to Pangilinan.

Baptism of Fire

Going on his third year as a lawmaker, De Castro admitted that he remains uncomfortable in the Senate. That he hasn’t fully adjusted shows in how he has comported himself in and out of the session hall.

Barely had he warmed his seat when he was thrown into the Senate’s political cockpit. In the Senate power struggle that ensued shortly after the May 2001 elections, De Castro found himself the subject of avid wooing by both the administration and the opposition camps. While he was a guest candidate of the opposition during the campaign, De Castro kept a safe distance from them early on. His loyalty was up for grabs in a chamber where numbers spell life and death.

The opposition, banking on the goodwill it cultivated during the campaign, was hoping that De Castro would vote with them in the battle for the Senate presidency. They were wrong.

When the voting came, De Castro allied himself with the majority, preventing Sen. Aquilino Pimentel and the opposition from wresting the Senate presidency. Sen. Franklin Drilon won with a majority of two votes, courtesy of De Castro and opposition maverick Sen. John Osmeña.

De Castro recalled that an opposition senator tried to persuade him up to the last minute to withdraw his support for Drilon. And he was surprised by what he was told. In Filipino, he recalled: "He told me I can still withdraw my commitment. But I already signed, so why should I change my mind? It would appear as if I had no word of honor." That was the first lesson he learned in the Senate: that word of honor is not often kept.

What made him vote in favor of the ruling coalition was his friendship with the late Sen. Renato Cayetano who, he said, was largely responsible for his decision to run for the Senate.

Senate observers say that Pimentel did not take his defeat lightly. They note that Pimentel would almost always interpellate De Castro, asking him tough questions whenever the latter takes the Senate floor to sponsor or defend a bill.

Snubbed by Media

The Senate media did not hide their indifference to a former colleague, bypassing him in interviews. It was a scene always full of irony: De Castro’s former colleagues gathered around senators while the former broadcaster sat quietly, waiting for the session to begin.

That he was inarticulate in English prompted some to look down on him, especially when he was ranged against a former colleague in ABS-CBN, Sen. Loren Legarda.

A Senate reporter, Rey Marfil, says De Castro tends to be repetitive to the point of being irritating. Sometimes, he notes, reporters think he makes no sense at all.

"If he asks a question in English, expect him to repeat it in Filipino," Marfil says. Marfil, who also writes a column on Senate gossip and senators’ bloopers, describes De Castro’s style as "tamaraw English" in reference to the endangered animal in Mindoro, where De Castro comes from. De Castro’s favorite intro line is "In your opinion, sa inyong palagay..."

In the 19 hearings that he participated in from July 22, 2002, to June 6 this year, De Castro asked long-winding questions in Taglish. The senator’s attention span is short. He would pose questions already raised in the same hearing.

During Senate interpellations, De Castro’s lack of experience and finesse invariably surfaces. He would ask for suspensions after almost every question asked of him. Then, notes Marfil, he would huddle with his staff and lawyers.

For Recto, asking suspensions in the interpellation, while a weakness, is expected of a newcomer. "It is also a sign of humility, that he does not pretend to know something he does not know."

Safe Positions

De Castro is partly to blame for the media’s low regard of him. A review of his past positions on certain issues show that he either kept silent, adopted a safe stand, or simply echoed the stance taken by members of the Wednesday group.

For instance, De Castro chose to remain silent on issues such as Charter change, former President Estrada’s plunder trial, and Chief Justice Hilario Davide’s impeachment. "He was neither here nor there on these issues," recalls Manila Standard reporter Rey Requejo.

On issues where public opinion is deeply divided, De Castro sends mixed signals, still bordering on the safe side. On the Jose Pidal controversy, for example, he initially adopted a critical stand only to soften up later, Requejo says.

But on issues where there is a clear public preference, De Castro takes a firm stand. In the Oakwood mutiny investigation, he condemned the means by which the rebellious soldiers resorted to in airing their gripes.

And in the never-ending power struggle at the Senate, he has been consistent. During the rump session where the minority temporarily wrested control of the Senate leadership in the absence of two administration senators, De Castro stuck it out with the administration bloc.

Personal Advocacies

For Pangilinan and Recto, the survey results showing De Castro always on top is the best indication that the public approves of his behavior in the Senate. By keeping his opinion to himself, he has avoided controversy.

"People are tired of politicians always talking and maybe that is his reading of the public sentiment," Recto said. "The important thing is he is quietly doing his job."

If he’s on the safe side publicly, De Castro has his own personal advocacies and pet bills. His favorite issues are the media, environment, illegal drugs, and human rights violations. These are the same issues that one would often see on his weekly "Magandang Gabi, Bayan" show on ABS-CBN.

One of the first bills he filed seeks to provide additional benefits to media persons. The senator also figured prominently when Net 25 reporter Arlyn dela Cruz was taken hostage by the Abu Sayyaf. To plead for De la Cruz’s release, the senator held his first and—so far—only press conference.

De Castro has shared his views on mining issues and human rights violations through press releases. He was particularly concerned by the killings and disappearance of some human rights activists in Mindoro. His staff is proud to say that De Castro was responsible for criminalizing the manufacture of drug paraphernalia.

De Castro quietly steered the passage of a bill that has now become a law. A second one may be forthcoming. Two laws in less than three years in the Senate is not too bad for a rookie, his colleagues in the Wednesday group say.

The first was the 2002 Balikbayan Law which grants balikbayans an additional US$2,000 tax-exempt shopping privilege on purchases of livelihood tools and increased the shopping privilege from $500 to $1,000 in all duty-free shops. Signed in November last year, the law also provides skills training for the balikbayan and his or her family members to enable them to become economically self-reliant upon their return.

A second bill that De Castro principally authored and sponsored—the proposed Expanded Senior Citizen’s Act—passed the Senate’s third and final reading last October. The bill grants additional privileges for senior citizens.

De Castro is chair of the committee on tourism.

How About Meralco?

Some describe De Castro’s advocacy as highly selective. They note that where the issue concerns the interests of his benefactors, he clams up—a betrayal, they say, of his campaign promise to be the masses’ voice in the Senate and champion of their causes. He adopted the slogan "Boses ng Senado," a reference to his broadcasting skills and association with the common tao.

Critics note that De Castro has kept silent on issues that affect the business interests of his former bosses at ABS-CBN, even when ordinary people are hurting. "We did not hear him speak out when the power purchase agreement [involving the Lopez-owned Manila Electric Company] was the issue. He is also silent on water rates," one Senate reporter observed. "These are issues that affect the masses." The Lopezes of ABS-CBN are involved in electric and water services.

De Castro acknowledged that he owes the Lopezes a lot. But he was quick to deny that they asked for something in return. He said they promised to help him with no strings attached.

To some observers, however, those strings are starting to show.

— With additional research by Karol Ilagan

home   |   Interviews main page   |