LAST MAN STANDING

She won a seat in the Senate and promised to insist on the rule of law;

She headed the Justice Committee to fight for the rule of law and to do justice for all;

She spoke out against the powers that be despite being forewarned to desist therefrom;

She lobbied a verbal grenade on extrajudicial killings covered by media within and without and in response, insults volleyed and thundered from the god of gods himself, echoed by the man on Justice with scales uneven and eyes with no blindfold;

She proceeded with her hearings on EJK and with cries of anguish from witnesses orphaned and widowed, came the hoof steps of international media thundering upon our shores, wailing and gnashing of killings that blighted a once hopeful nation;

While most others cowered in fear, she with a few, ventured further with the EJK hearings and came forth Matobato;

From whose mouth uttered the same senseless murders that the Great Eagle Father boasted during the campaign and which his defeated echo chamber tried hard to extinguish from the senate floor, only to be shamed by a simple answer: "Grade One Lang po ako"!

Despite statements belittling his testimony, and the growing threat of a flow of credibility turning into a tsunami of truth, the Senate, through its wisest member, proceeded to declare the Justice committee vacant.

And so the Senate acquiesced, save with the Fantastic Four, who stood by their confrere, betrayed by one not worthy to be called an ally who could not rise above personal animosity, she lost her chairmanship.

But in the end, she did not waver, nor did she lose this war of nerves. The people will remember this day as the day the

Senate lost its cherished independence. And the day that started the ever tightening grip on our civil liberties and democracy as we know it.

We will also remember today as the day that the last man standing in the Senate is a woman.

Her name is Leila de Lima.