“Mas gusto naming magkahiwalay kayo ng bahay pero best friends kayo, kaysa nakatira kayo sa iisang bahay pero worst enemies kayo.”
These were the words of Senator Alan Peter “Compañero” Cayetano during the ninth episode of Cayetano in Action with Boy Abunda’s Season 2 where he helped resolve the bad blood between two brothers who used to live under one roof with their daughters.
According to the older brother, he had taken his younger brother and niece into his home so they could live together, share resources, and split bills. However, the younger brother, who works as a junk collector, often failed to pay his share.
Because of this, as well as his landlord’s constant complaining about the junk piling up at the side of the road, the older brother took it upon himself to sell some of the recyclables his brother would collect without the latter’s consent.
The tension was worsened by the friction between their teenage children due to the younger one’s “laziness.” Not long after, the older brother decided to kick them out of the house – but the latter cried foul.
Senator Alan affirmed the older brother’s right as the house’s original tenant to take away the pile of recyclables but said he had no right to sell them because those were his brother’s property.
“Ang tanong ko sa inyo, noong nag-away kayong dalawa, humirap ba o dumali ang buhay niyo?” he asked them rhetorically.
Putting more importance on mending the two brothers’ relationship, Senators Alan and Pia offered to pay back the P3,000-worth of recyclables the older brother took from the other.
Senator Pia then vowed to help them improve their carpentry skills by enrolling them in a technological-vocational course at the Technological Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and the younger niece in the Education Department’s Alternative Learning System (ALS).
Senator Alan encouraged the brothers to acknowledge their own shortcomings, apologize to one another, and change for the better.
“Importanteng alam mo y’ung kasalanan mo, importanteng nag-sorry ka. Paghingi mo ng tawad, magbabago ka,” he said.
The brothers heeded the senator’s advice. “Ayusin na natin y’ung buhay natin. Makikinig ka sa akin kasi nilalagay naman kita sa maayos,” the older brother told his brother as they hugged.
Senator Pia urged them to treat each other with respect and to always talk things out calmly, setting a good example to their children.
While he advised them not to force the co-living arrangement for the sake of their teenage children, Senator Alan urged the brothers to care for their nieces and teach them proper behavior as if they were their own children.
“Ang tingin niyo dapat sa anak [ng isa’t isa] ay anak niyo rin. Y’ung pamangkin mo, anak mo rin y’un,” he said.
CIA with BA is an “evolution” of “Compañero y Compañera, a legal advice program co-hosted by the late Senator Rene Cayetano – the father of Senators Alan and Pia – which aired on radio and later on TV from 1997 to 2001.
CIA with BA airs every Sunday at 11:30 p.m. on GMA-7, with replays on Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. on GTV.
