When some senators forget how to listen

At the recent Senate hearing of the Senate committee on ways and means chaired by Sen. Pia Cayetano, she asked the resource person how the luxury cars of the Discaya couple were brought into the country without paying the proper duties.

But when the very polite and patient Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno started to explain, Cayetano kept interrupting him and making side remarks as if she were hosting a TV talk show.

That showed a lack of basic good manners and right conduct taught to us when we were in grade school.

What happened to that charming UP cum laude graduate whose claim to fame was her various sports achievements and her unwavering support for our Filipino athletes?

She used to be one of the kind and proper senators during her early terms, but now, it seems the powers of her office have turned her from a good role model for our youth into a grandstanding brat like her brother or even worse than former Sen. Cynthia Villar and Sen. Rodante Marcoleta!

Cayetano should follow the example of her colleagues like Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Sen. Bam Aquino, and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on how to conduct a proper hearing. These real public servants always show respect to their invited resource persons, who are supposed to be the experts on the subject matter being investigated.

It’s supposed to be a hearing. The chairperson should talk less and listen more.