BY HIS OWN estimate, Cayetano says 60 percent of the more than 30 million voters who went to the polls last May 11 “became aware of me because of the (radio and TV) programs.” He also does not deny that his image as Compañero did much to catapult him next to the number one position in the Senate race. But he says while having radio and TV shows gave him an edge over many of the other candidates, these were not enough to ensure his win. That he did so well, says Cayetano, was also largely because he had succeeded in “bringing my message to the people, na dapat pagandahin ang administration ng criminal justice (that the administration of criminal justice should be improved).”

It dovetailed neatly with what “Compañero” the show seemed to champion. Whether or not that was intended is unclear, although Cayetano’s campaign manager Gastenes says harping on a single theme was part of their camp’s strategy. He also says the decision to focus on ensuring “swift and fair delivery of justice for all” stemmed from Cayetano’s “knowledge of the process of litigation.”

Until now, however, legal observers say they still have a hard time with the image of Cayetano as Compañero, champion of the poor. They point out that neither of the two law firms that he was part of has a reputation for representing the unwashed (although both in all probability handle some pro bono cases, as do many lawyers). Rightly or wrongly, both are seen as having political connections to thank for their lucrative practice, and observers say Cayetano is very much the microcosmic version of these firms.

The good news is that for now, Cayetano has seen it fit to follow through with his campaign theme at the Senate. He says his first bill contains the stipulation that all successful bar examinees will have to render free legal aid to the poor. “I see hundreds of indigents in jail,” says Cayetano, “(and they are there) for two reasons: they have no money and they have no lawyers.”

“If Rene will put his heart into it, he could be a good fiscalizer,” observes a Lakas partymate who also ran for the Senate last May but lost. “And if I’m going to take into account the qualifications of everyone in the Senate, I would consider him in the top 50 percent. Among those who won, top 30.”

The assessment has some basis. Aside from being Ramos’s legal adviser, Cayetano was also co-vice chairman of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC). He was an assemblyman during the Marcos administration, as well as trade and industry deputy minister and administrator of the Export Processing Zone Authority.

Yet despite all these, Cayetano still fails to impress—and elicit confidence from—those who should know him better than most: his colleagues in the legal community.

Why many of them do not take him seriously partly comes from his reputation for being a master of malapropisms. Some even say the infamous phrase “landscape victory” attributed to President Joseph Estrada was actually first uttered by Cayetano, who was announcing the election of his then mentor-friend and ACCRA boss Edgardo Angara as president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. “He also says things like, ‘It’s raining cat or dog,’” says a former officemate. “In one office meeting pa nga he said, very seriously, ha, ‘We’re facing a blank wall. Let’s climb it very high.’”

In a profession where precise language is a must, such slips, although petty, are nearly unforgivable. But Cayetano’s saving grace, say his colleagues, is that he is able to laugh at himself.

MANY SAY IT IS NOT REALLY HIS PROPENSITY
to mangle the English language that makes them unable to give him professional respect. The reason, they say, lies in the manner in which he manufactured his climb. While most of his legal colleagues agree that Cayetano deserves to be credited for working hard to get where he is, there is little admiration for what they say is his penchant to latch on to people with clout, and his habit, as one lawyer put it, of “seizing every opportunity to make himself look good.”

Most of the lawyers interviewed for this piece, for example, believe Cayetano “volunteered” for many, if not all, of the media-attractive cases he was involved in, such as Vizconde and Beltran. Cayetano himself acknowledges that his participation in such “sensational” cases enabled the public to get acquainted with him. But he insists that he had not gone out of his way to offer his services in any of these cases. According to Cayetano, it was either one of the litigants sought his help or he was simply lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time.

“In the Manila Film scam, I remember I was delivering an invitation for Louie Beltran at DZRH for my daughter’s wedding,” says Cayetano, explaining that Beltran was a very good friend and was going to be one of the wedding sponsors. “When I got there, I saw (Manila) Mayor (Alfredo) Lim, and he was being interviewed. And suddenly (station manager) Joe Taruc pulled me aside and on the air said, “O, meyor, eto nang abogado mo (Mayor, here’s your lawyer).”

“To tell you frankly I was so flabbergasted because I didn’t know what it was all about,” Cayetano says, “except that I was listening to DZRH on my way there about this Manila Film scam.” Lim, whom he says is another good friend, later invited him to participate in the public hearing being held that same day.

“To a lot of people, he’s all fake Cayetano,” says his former UP law school classmate Ismael Kahn. “But I think a lot of the criticisms against him have been unfair. They say he’s shallow, but he’s gotten this far, so maybe there’s something.”



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