SEN. Bato dela Rosa is in hiding. Despite his protestations to the contrary – he still grants interviews to those who still care about his point of view – he refuses to say where he is, only saying it’s a safe and undisclosed place.
But he is not in hiding, he insists.
I think the good senator and I differ when it comes to vocabulary because, in my book, he is hiding.
That’s okay, if not for two important points.
First, not too long ago, Sen. Bato stood before a battery of microphones and boasted about how he hadn’t agreed to be hauled before the International Criminal Court, even daring an ex-senator to tag along and be the one to handcuff him. At that time, Sen. Bato acted like he had balls as big as his head.
Fast forward to today. It seems a mouse has bigger ones.
The bravado and braggadocio of the past are gone. He even uses his grandchildren as an excuse: it will be a pity, he says, if they grow up without a grandfather. I wonder how many grandchildren lost grandfathers due to the summary executions under Tokhang?
But – to me at least – here’s the weightier point: Sen. Bato has cowardly abandoned former President Duterte to face the music alone. If Duterte had loyalists as cowardly as Sen. Bato, his goose is indeed cooked.
Years ago, Enrique Zobel told me that in one of his visits to the exiled former President Marcos Sr. in Hawaii, he inquired of FM why, of all people, it was he and not one of his so-called cronies that Marcos was confiding in at that point of his life.
“Karamihan traidor,” FM intoned. They discussed this and that crony but Marcos told Zobel: “I didn’t like you but I respected you.” To Marcos, Zobel as Makati Business Club founder had many painful words to say – but they were the truth.
The cronies? “Karamihan traidor.”
True, because so many were quick to cut a deal with the Cory government so they could keep some of the “loot” and then be left alone.
Is FPRRD now coming face to face with his crop of loyalists who are now nowhere to be found? My only wish is they end up as mere cowards, not “mga traidor.”
Poor grandchildren if they grow up finding out that Lolo was not a man of his word.
