manny's maneuverings

(i seem to be using a lot of "m's" in my titles. i remember the old set of world book encyclopedias where M was one of the thicker books.)

the senate approval of the budget happened a few days ago already, but i couldn't comment on it immediately due to work priorities (or maybe i just got too busy surfing again... he3x!). anyway, one of the stories came out was that sen. manny villar orchestrated the approval of the house version in toto (word for word). in essense, the senate threw out their own version which they have been working on for 2-3 months. how was villar able to make the other senators agree? he saw that most of the other senators had already booked flights for their holy week vacation. he then posited that if the senate didn't approve the house version, the house would be involved in a long, drawn out waiting game which would compromise their vacation time. thus, the bill was approved speedily.

this reminds me when he was the house speaker, he started with the opening prayer, which he knew most congressmen didn't pay attention to, then immediately proceeded with the reading of the charges of impeachment. these caught the congressmen flat-footed and the measure was transferred to the senate.

you gotta hand it to villar on how he was able to see these seemingly insignificant chinks then use it to bring unexpectedly exponential results....