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The red carpet that is the stuff of Oscar nights has
rolled over to the Batasang Pambansa, home to the Philippines’
House of Representatives in Quezon City.
It served its purpose, to be
walked on by VIPs, including wives of lawmakers and Cabinet members,
as they made their way from their cars to the session hall where
President Gloria Arroyo was scheduled to deliver her State of the
Nation Address on Monday.
The women had made their
(fashion) statements faster than President Arroyo would be
introduced by House Speaker Prospero Nograles. Perhaps the
fashionista in them overtook the presumably primary reason why they
were there—to listen to what the President has to say in her
report to Filipinos, not to show off clothes and jewelry in these
hard times.
It apparently rained on their
parade. A town mayor from Northern Luzon upstaged them all,
apparently believing that less is more. He came in clad in his
native bahag (G-string), and a colored one at that.
Mayor Rosario Camma of Nagpinan,
Quirino province, going tribal made him an instant hit among
videographers and photographers, and some congressmen who ogled him.
Camma, who claimed to be the
leader of the Bugkalot tribe in his home province, proudly showed
off his blue bahag as he passed by the aisles of the session hall.
He said he had been invited to the occasion.
“I am proud to wear our ethnic
costume, which pictures our culture,” Camma told reporters when
asked why he wore the G-string.
He said he was representing the
more than 20,000 of his townmates. According to him, it was an honor
to be asked to listen to the President’s SONA in person.
The apparent lesson learned here
was that it pays to go for less than for more. After all, the red
carpet was just a piece of rug that called attention to itself.
Camma, evidently, had no practical use for it.
--Sammy Martin
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