Mademoiselles

By Rolo B. Cena

Random

Dumaguete Star Informer

8 October 2016

When Leonardo da Vinci painted the half-portrait Mona Lisa, never did he know that the painting would later be acclaimed as “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world” today.  It was categorized as classic masterpiece since King Francis I of France acquired it.

Lisa Gherardini, a member of the famed Gherardini family from Florence and Tuscany and the wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo inspired Da Vinci to paint Mona Lisa. 

Connoisseurs of arts frequently described the subject’s expression as enigmatic with the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modeling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism as among the novel qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of the work.

Truly, Mona Lisa’s qualities remind us of veteran Senator Mirriam Defensor-Santiago, whose death last week surprised the Filipino people and most citizens of the world for three reasons:  her enigmatic intellect, the monumentality of her composure and her atmospheric illusionism of issues surrounding the country’s socio-economic and political arena.

Miriam’s unfathomable brainpower, whose book Stupid is Forever became a bestseller, oftentimes perplexes both the ordinary and the schooled into understanding her political discourses, privilege senate speeches or even her day-to-day wisdom, if not hugot lines, candidly delivered from her sharp-mind and satirically intelligent tongue undoubtedly evident of a writer’s character.

Her composure – not just the stance but also the monumentality of it – its greatness and importance lord over others each time she takes the podium and opens her mouth.  Her monumentality is iconic – something that vividly defines a character truly Miriam Defensor-Santiago, precisely the reason why she is revered, adored and emulated by everybody in all assemblies in and out of the country.

Rightly, in substance and form, Madam Mirriam is Mona Lisa to the Filipino people.  Her impressive trickery of handling personal and professional issues garnered recognition as truly defensive in nature flawlessly addressing concerns whose motive is simply to educate, inform and let-aware the Filipino people whose ignorance oftentimes supersedes vastness of melo-dramatic glories.

In contrast, Mona Lisa’s qualities remind us of the feisty yet junior senator Leila Delima, whose sexy-political scandal for months now equally surprised the Filipino people and the citizens of the world for three reasons:  Her enigmatic concoction of wit, the subtle modeling of forms and glamor and the atmospheric illusionism of poignant concoction of a soap dish of sex, lies and espionage all uttered or delivered in manners only she and her cohorts can believe and understand.

Senator Leila’s puzzling mixture of twisted wits, whose indie film’s portrayal of an allegedly sex-drugs-career triangled woman becomes a box office sensation, literally and figuratively, irritated the country’s most critical audience to date.  Her blend of tirades and barbs with the country’s chief executive added spice to her soap-dished claim for political support via cinematic and theatrical discourses and privileged senate speeches concerning the triangle.

Her subtle modeling of forms embellished with glamorized wit and feigning sanity created another puzzling story of what really went before her senatorial seat:  The purportedly unannounced raid of the National Bilibid Prison that reportedly produced illegal drugs, blood monies, sex toys, fully equipped high-end recording studio and a lot more, the alleged drug trafficking inside and outside the National Bilibid Prison that allegedly produced millions of pesos for her senatorial bid, her alleged sexual escapade with her driver turned bagman cum largesse collector, her alleged intimate relationship with an inmate and a lot more.    

Her distinctive illusionism of moving fictional soap dish of incoherent and inconsistent information fashioned in the familiar halls of justice and senate made her distinctly different from all other senators and government officials to date.  People criticized that if all these were true, they should not have voted this twisted Philippine Mona Lisa whose personal interests were placed over and above the country’s war against drugs, poverty, social freedom and other bondages those previous administrations never have addressed.

Madam (Mona) Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Senator Leila Delima:  Women of substance and character truly emulative and reverent for peculiar things well done in their respective lives, models of distinction to constituents, friends and countrymen and wives to faithful husbands regardless of status and consequence – they deserve honor and respect.

Mona Lisa is puzzling, as puzzling as the unknowable character of veteran senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and the perplexed personality of Senator Leila Delima.   

If Mona Lisa is the world’s “best known, the most visited, the most sung, the most written about and the most parodied masterpiece,” Senator Miriam is “the best known political soldier and the most revered government servant.”  Senator Leila on the other hand is “the most parodied political persona and the most criticized public servant in the country” today.

In the end, it’s not the title the people of the archipelagic Philippines want to know; it is the resolution to the cases levied against political leaders, regardless of gender and position.  We have been harsh to people – even harsher this time.  While sensitivity is not the game the political arena usually hold, political leaders are still human beings with the most humane of heart and mind.

Why don’t we be gentler?