The Pusakal and Askal As Impeachment Judges

Is Philippine politics really going to the dogs?

Or are we seeing the rise of Zoomorphism - technically attributing animal traits to humans, or the behavioral adoption of animalistic traits? 

Well, we can help but notice it ... Atty Salvador Panelo calling some senators as PUSAKAL ... and some neutral netizens firing back that some Sara Seantors are also ASKAL.

Wait a minute, does it imply that they have deteriorated to some lowly animal level?

Or something once good or reputable has fallen into a poor state?

Well, that's what we are staring at now, the political environment has become a canine or feline show.

And the Philippine Senate is its grand arena, where legal luminaries and neutral observers have concluded that the best way to describe the impeachment process is through the lens of stray-animal management.

In one corner, we have the ever-fashionable Atty. Salvador Panelo, who has traded his usual silk scarves for a metaphorical net. 

He has identified four specific "PUSAKAL" (Stray Cats) who are apparently "poisoning" the minds of the Filipino people: Hontiveros, Pangilinan, Lacson, and Sotto.

According to the Gospel of Panelo, these four are the villains of the story. 

If they were in charge, a conviction for the Vice President would be "guaranteed."

• The Logic: If you ask questions about confidential funds, you are a stray cat.

• The Symptom: "Mind Poisoning." Side effects include: reading the budget, asking for receipts, and a sudden urge to understand the 1987 Constitution.

• The Sentence: In Panelo’s dream courtroom, these four wouldn't just be legislators; they’d be a four-headed Hydra of Opposition that needs to be "domesticated" by the ruling party.

But wait! The "Neutral Observers" (who have clearly had enough of the feline metaphors) have fired back with their own list. 

They’ve identified TEN "ASKAL" (Street Dogs)—the loyal enablers who are ready to protect the VP at any cost.

From Bong Go and Bato to the "TikTok-Dancing" Marcoleta and the "Action-Movie" Padilla, this pack is ready to bark down any inquiry.

• The Prediction: For these ten, an Acquittal is already written in the stars (or at least in the committee report).

• The Counter-Argument: If asking questions is "poisoning" the mind, then what do you call blindly defending a snack-food-based liquidation report? Is that "Mind Detoxification" or just a very high-sodium diet of disinformation?

The most satirical part of this exchange is the debate over who is actually holding the bottle of "Mind Poison."

• Panelo says: The critics are the toxic ones. They make people think that accountability is a real thing! How dare they!

• The Netizens say: Panelo himself is the chief pharmacist of this "poison." He’s the one mixing the cocktails of legal jargon and "pogi points" to convince the public that a landslide vote in 2022 is a permanent shield against the House of Representatives.

It’s a beautiful, symmetrical mess. On one hand, you have the "Pusakal" who are accused of being too aggressive with their Claws of Justice. 

On the other, you have the "Askal" who are accused of being too loyal with their Leashes of Loyalty.

And in the middle? The Filipino People, who are just trying to figure out if anyone is actually going to feed the pet called Accountability. 

The Moral of the Story: In the Philippines, the law isn't a "Blind Lady" with a scale; it’s a neighborhood dispute between a cat lover and a dog lover, and the only thing getting "poisoned" is our collective patience.