Talk of shamelessness at its worst.

Frightened by the specter of a growing unrest sparked by the outrage over the manner by which it intended to ram through the constituent assembly, Congress leaders hastily beat a retreat Saturday morning. A visibly beaten but obviously unremorseful Speaker Jose de Venecia faced the nation with the announcement that the Congress, which will go down in history with nothing much but the stupid con-ass to remember it by, is in favor of a constitutional convention to accomplish the Charter change that it is pushing.

You have to give to de Venecia. If this were Japan , the Speaker of a rump Congress that threw out all the rules of civility and decency first when it threw out the impeachment and next in setting up the con-ass, he would have committed hara-kiri. This would have been the only honorable thing to do after mocking the people's trust and trifling with the people's dignity. And yet, on second thought, how can we expect honor from a chamber that people equate with a cabal of thieves? What can we expect from de Venecia who has championed the politics of bribery at every turn?

Without a tinge of guilt after stoking the fire, De Venecia casually proceeds with the announcement that the House is amenable to a con-con. There is no recollection that just a day earlier Congress had been intransigent despite the surge of popular anger by a people who can no longer stomach its arrogance. He even had the nerve to give the Senate an ultimatum less than a week after he presided over a circus that convinced people even more that the parliamentary system that he and Pres. Arroyo want to bring about is nothing but a farce. And yet, Filipinos will have to accept that. For the most part, we turn away the best and the brightest during election day simply because they either happen to be the poorest or simply had more dignity not to pay for people's votes.

In turn, we bring in the worst of the lot – those who either have nothing much between the ears but whose pockets are packed to the seams or those who left their sense of dignity and decency at the altar of opportunism. Of course, there are those who argue that they actually voted for the right ones but that their votes were not counted by the agency that seemed more inclined to cheat than prevent it from taking place. They have an argument there. In a country where people are so preoccupied with their rights, we are depriving congressmen - most of whom we will be voting back into office – a basic right. The right to be on the wrong side of history.