A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SENATOR

 

“A day in the life of a fool

A sad and a long lonely day

I walk the avenue and hope I’ll run into

The welcome sight of you coming your way.”

I was putting together this article about the daily routine work of our typical senator when the above seemingly symmetrical oldie but goldie Frank Sinatra’s song flashed into my mind. I thought it is a charming eye-catching opener for this piece of work.

Having failed in running into the internet for any exclusive feature of our local senator’s typical day in his work, I opted instead for Uncle Sam’s counterpart – a US senator from Oklahoma who posted a video clip “A Day in the Life of Senator James Lankford” in YouTube.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SENATOR

Below are the highlights of the senator’s typical workday schedule which stretched across ten hours of non-stop communication activities.

7:50 am          Senate prayer breakfast

9:00                Meeting with constituents

10:00              Homeland security governmental affairs meeting

11:30              Foreign affairs legislative update

Noon              Vote on Associate Attorney General

1:00                Steering committee lunch

2:30                Indian affairs business meetings & oversight hearing

3:30                Headed to a classified briefing with Dept. of Defense

5:15                Meeting with Central American Foreign Ministers

6:00                Interviews with Fox News, Washington Post & CNN

7:00 pm     Dinner. Study materials for tomorrow’s meeting. Writing speech for tomorrow on the Senate floor. Chat with wife and daughter.

The video clip stimulated the following comments, among many others:

“Thank you for this video, Senator. It will help my students to feel that government is accessible.”

“I found this channel about Senator Lankford when I was searching for a day in the life of senators since I aspire to be a senator one day. This guy is great!”

“Never see any senator creating this clip, at least I can look at everything that you do in everyday life…Hurrah!”

THINKING PROCESS

The senator communicated with many different people belonging to various groups by exchanging ideas, thoughts, opinions, knowledge, and information. Only when the people the senator had talked to, clearly understood him, would he deem himself to have communicated effectively, unleashed by this crux of the matter – his brain -- which enabled him to think intelligently. Dr. M. Scott Peck, psychiatrist and author of “The Road Less Traveled” wrote:

“Thinking is difficult. Thinking is complex. And thinking is – more than anything else – a process, with a course or direction, a lapse of time, and a series of steps or stages that lead to some result. To think well is a laborious, often painstaking process until one becomes accustomed to being ‘thoughtful.’

“Since [thinking] is a process, the course or direction may not always be clear-cut. Not all the steps or stages are linear; nor are they always in the same sequence. Some are circular and overlap with others. Not everyone seeks to achieve the same result. Given all this, if we are to think well, we must be on guard against simplistic thinking in our approach to analyzing crucial issues and solving the problems of life.”

        I think it is fair to say that the busyness of the above US senator is not far off from our local senator’s earnestness in his typical day – both legislators are cut from the same cloth of the US Constitution.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SENATOR PADILLA

At this point, let’s figure out the grey matter Senator Robin Padilla has between his ears by placing him side by side with the demand of the typical day in the life of a senator. His following wisecracks on his so-called “baptism of fire” in the plenary debates spoke volumes.

“Nahihirapan lang ako pag nag-e-Englishan na, medyo ‘pwede dahan-dahan lang? Gano’n. Kaya mahalaga ‘yung journal eh, kaya binabasa ko ‘yung journal kasi nadun lahat eh, mahalaga ‘yun.”

“Nakatunganga ako. Tango-tango. Bukas mababasa ko sa journal ito.”

“Hindi naman lahat hindi ko naiintindihan. Kapag gumamit lang sila ng mga English na pang-dictionary, marami talaga, eh.”

“Lalo ‘pag nagtatalo na. ‘Yun naglalabasan ng mga Webster doon. Medyo dumudugo tenga ko. Hindi naman ako pinagsalita eh.”

Ang journal ko, may mga linya. ‘Pag may linya ‘yun ibig sabihin kailangan ko ng dictionary.”

“Hindi pa masyado [as to ‘breaking in’ to the inner circle in the Senate]. Pinipilit naman ni Senate President na ma-welcome ako. Siyempre bago ka eh, parang sa eskwelahan din, ‘pag bago ka, makisama ka muna. Pinipilit ko naman makisama.”

In the light of such apparent incompetence, why in the world is Robin Padilla in the Senate? A 1995 study by the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform identified Popularity as the leading factor in the Philippine election driven then by the following electorate profile:

5 in 10 unemployed

4 in 10 high school graduate

6 in 10 class C & D

After almost three decades, just as the above electorate profile appears to have still lingered today, or may have even worsened due to the pandemic, so too Popularity, as the leading election factor, has stuck around as showcased by Robin Padilla’s topping the senatorial winners. Sad to say, only when our government gives a boost to such an economic-driven electorate profile will our country be able to get out of this Padilla-Revilla-Lapid showbiz popularity hole. It’s likely to be a long haul.

SAVVY DOLPHY

Interestingly, many years ago, taking a different route at that same political crossroads, Dolphy said:

“Kung ako ay papasok sa pulitika, isa lang ang ikinatatakot ko, dahil kapag nandun na ako, baka mapahiya lang ako kasi hindi ko alam ang gagawin ko, at sayang lang ang pagboto ng mga tao sa akin.”

His words, “Hindi ko alam ang gagawin ko” is just like saying “para na rin akong luko-luko” which paves the way for our wrapping up this article with the second-half of our song opener:

“I stop just across from your door

But you’re never home anymore

So back to my room and there in the gloom

I cry tears of goodbye

That’s the way it will be every day in the life of a fool.”

Thank goodness, such a senator’s life will only last up to six years.

Head still photo courtesy of Juan Vargas of pexelsdotcom