FILIBUSTER

By now, those who have been watching the Canvass in Congress, will know the meaning of Filibustering. Well after Pimentel spoke for more than four hours (and damn! I regretted casting my vote for him), everybody seems to hate the word.

But there were those days that "Filibustering" was quite honorable. Those were the days when the Senate was still free with the people like Tito Sotto, Ramon Revilla, Robert Jaworski and the likes. And here's one article published by Inquirer today that spoke of how the late Senator Roseller T. Lim Filibustered for more than 18 hours just to prevent then Senator Ferdinand Marcos from becoming the Senate President. And by the way, the Late Senator Lim is a graduate of Silliman University College of Law.


photo from INQ7.

ROSELLER T. LIM
He filibustered for 18 hours
to stop Marcos but…
Posted: 1:31 AM (Manila Time) | Jun. 18, 2004
By Noralyn Mustafa
Inquirer News Service

Great filibuster

HISTORY does repeat itself.

Forty-one years ago, in April 1963, shortly before the Senate adjourned, the late Sen. Roseller T. Lim took to the floor and did the great filibuster that could have changed the course of our history.

For the entire 18 hours and 30 minutes that he talked, he had to keep standing, leaning on the podium only when he had to. He was allowed to take only water, but was prohibited from going to the comfort room. He had to relieve himself in his pants.

His cause: to prevent Ferdinand Marcos from becoming Senate President.

Before martial law was proclaimed on Sept. 21, 1972, there were only two parties-the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Liberal Party (LP).

When Marcos, a Liberal, contested the Senate presidency against the Nacionalista incumbent, Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez, the Liberals were the Senate majority, numbering 12 against 10 Nacionalistas. Diosdado Macapagal, the incumbent President, was a Liberal.

There were, however, two independents who were going to vote with the minority, which would assure the Nacionalistas the majority vote, except that the one crucial vote for the NP was in the hands of Alejandro Almendras, who was in the United States purportedly for a throat operation but was expected to arrive in the country in two days. With all their hopes pinned on him, the Nacionalistas had to delay the election.

On the eve of the election for Senate President, Marcos made a "friendly" visit to the Zamboangueño senator. Marcos knew that the Government Service Insurance System was foreclosing the mortgage on Lim's house (such were the senators of that time, they could not even afford to keep up with the amortization on their loans).

In elegant statesman's language, Marcos offered to pay the loan; and in equally elegant statesman's language, Lim refused. But after Marcos left, he let out a string of invectives in unelegant Spanish.

"I was a witness to that visit," Lim's daughter, Rosamy, told the Inquirer. "Daddy was mad. I think it was at that moment that he decided to do what he had to do."

The following day, at the party meeting hours before the vote, Lim offered to filibuster to buy time for the Nacionalistas until the arrival of Almendras.

For 18 hours and 30 minutes, he stood there talking, with just a glass of water nearby to sustain him. More than that, his brilliance, his impeccable command of the English language, his years as a trial lawyer and legislator, his vast store of anecdotes in the legislature and the laboring class of which he was a champion that gave him enough material to talk about and keep his audience listening. (For more of the article click here)