Much like an intensity 10 earthquake, this impertinent and irreverent young guy is rocking the boat. He is openly challenging the gods. He is like the child Jesus debating with the Pharisees, scribes, and teachers of the law right there in the Temple. He is driving away the corrupt moneychangers transforming his father’s house into a den of thieves.
This young man from the peripheries of Cavite has transformed himself into a modern Don Quixote de la Mancha now fighting against the windmills of corruption and legislative manipulations. At first, they called this Gen Z legislator from Cavite somewhat crazy. In fact, his former partymate and close ally of his late father, Congressman Ronnie Puno called on the Ethics Committee to discipline him. He was reprimanded by Congresswoman Janet Garin and not taken seriously by the former Speaker and his deputy speakers. But today, he is the hottest copy for the people and the media.
Congressman Kiko Barzaga is the darling of the media, the toast of the town, and the only member of the House who goes viral whenever he opens his mouth. He has become more popular than Sandro Marcos who hasn’t done anything monumental, much less earthshaking despite his direct access to the vortex of power. Barzaga is more popular than any deputy speaker. He has more speaking engagements and TV interviews than Speaker Bojie Dy himself. He outshines the senior congressmen from Cebu like Duke Frasco, Edu Rama and Edsel Galeos who have never delivered any eloquent speech before the plenary.
Barzaga has nothing to lose and everything to gain with his unorthodox approaches, his spontaneous answers to reporters’ questions, and his nonchalant but articulate repartees on fundamental issues are making him the latest darling of the multi-media. He isn’t a lawyer but is a college dropout and yet, he can easily make any lawyer in the House look like a babbling kinder tot. He can challenge anyone to a parliamentary debate. He is well-informed and well-read. Kiko knows the issues, he masters the nuances and the ramifications and intricacies of top issues are in his fingertips. If Kiko were in the Senate, he could outshine Marcoleta and give the Tulfos a run for their hackneyed audacity.
Kiko can be likened to Spartacus who defied all odds and ultimately defeated legions of Roman warriors. Kiko is like the Martin Luther who dared to fight the high, mighty, and powerful Roman Catholic Church. With his famous 95 theses and charges against the Church, his stand against the abuses of the Church spread like wildfire in 1517. He dared to translate the Bible into German and democratized, socialized if you will, the teachings of Christ.
This rebel Kiko is like Galileo Galilei who first brought forth the Heliocentric Theory that it is the earth that revolves around the sun and not the other way around. He openly challenged the geocentric theory advocated by the Catholic Church and he was proven right by science. Kiko is using the strategy of Mahatma Gandhi which is peaceful resistance, called “satyagraha” and passive defiance with sprinklings of irreverent attacks and even vitriolic criticisms against the status quo. Kiko is going to win as he is gaining a lot of followers. He is inspiring the Gen Z’s and the millennials.
There is a streak of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the antics of Kiko, aggressive, fearless, and daring, not too reckless but unorthodox, not too impulsive but defiant and doesn’t hold any authority sacrosanct. Kiko has the makings of Malcolm X who dared to challenge the white supremacist and the Klu Klux Klan in defense of the oppressed and exploited blacks. Kiko is an unarmed non-conformist, a rebel with a cause, a defiant renegade who sees injustices and refuses to succumb to the path of least resistance. He is a young warrior for change who has a vision for a better world, unseen by his peers in a House full of blind conformists.
Kiko will continue his fight no matter if he is hated by the scoundrels, imbeciles, rascals, and morons, reprimanded by contented cows like Garin and even threatened with expulsions by the self-appointed guardians of the establishment like Puno. Kiko is the hope of the nation and the liberation of the beleaguered and plundered nation.
As long as the House of Sodom has a soul like Barzaga, that chamber should not be burned like Gomorrah, at least not yet, anyway.