Before staging their much talked about boycott of President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SoNA), militant party-list lawmakers showed up on Monday during the opening of the regular session in “bizarre” outfits that did not fail to catch public attention.

Gabriela Representative Liza Maza made a fashion statement with a Filipiniana gown made from “katsa” or flour sacks. “I’m showing the real state of the nation with this dress,” Maza told reporters in an interview.

The gown was accentuated with wooden beads and a hand-painted golden image of Mrs. Arroyo weaving an embroidery of Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) while people below her were strangled by its thread.

In a statement, Maza said the image, hand-painted by social realism artist Boy Dominguez, “depicts the reality of Arroyo’s unrelenting efforts for term extension through Con-Ass being pushed by her allies in the House of Representatives.”

“Moreover, it shows both the suffering and resistance of the Filipino people to these schemes,” Maza added, referring to moves to amend the 1987 Constitution.

It was not the first time Maza used clothing to make a bold fashion statement.

In 2003, Maza wore a dress with an anti-war message and matched with alampay or shawl, during the visit of then United States President George W. Bush.

Maza said she wore the “katsa gown” to portray her opposition to the Con-Ass.

Another militant lawmaker, Anakpawis Representative Joel Maglunsod, also made a fashion statement with his pink barong tagalog.

For someone who represents the labor sector in Congress and a veteran of street demonstrations, Maglunsod was not expected to wear pink, a color associated with femininity.

His act was reminiscent of that of the late Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran, who loved wearing a red barong.

Maglunsod said he did not mind wearing pink and get mistaken for gay. “Pink, after all, is a lighter shade of red, which symbolizes anger, fierceness, sacrifice, and courage,” he said.

After attending the opening of the session, Maza and Maglunsod immediately joined their fellow activist lawmakers in street demonstrations instead of listening to the President’s SoNA.

At the Senate, some of the senators also wore fashion statement at the opening of the Senate’s Third Regular Session on Monday.

For Senator Pilar Juliana “Pia” Cayetano, the statement was: “Be black or be white, but don’t be in between.”

Cayetano, who wore a white and black ruffled chiffon terno by Mia Urquico, said she chose to wear a simple ensemble. “I am wearing a black and white gown. That is my statement – be black or white on issues. No grey. No in between,” she said.

Senators Loren Legarda, Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal and Miriam Defensor-Santiago also wore splendid gowns that showed their assets as well as their political “color.”

Legarda wore a detailed pink Filipiniana gown. As before, Legarda wore her bare-back gown splendidly, and joked that her dress effectively mirrors her campaign against climate change.

She said Paul Cabral designed her gown which she proudly said was recycled. She said Cabral added native beads from Mindanao as detail.