In sport especially in Basketball, a bench warmer is a player who is rarely given a role in his team every time they scrimmages with the opposing teams. Often bench warmer serves as short reliever, given the fact that he is only good for a few minutes after which he is pulled back to the bench.
Players who are treated as bench warmer or bench decoration sometimes feel the burden of being left useless and unfairly looked down as second fiddle to other players more so to the priced star players who commands millions. But of course they are all players and being paid for their entertaining acts in the hard court, all for the love of sport & entertainment.
In the political arena, most especially in congress, bench warmers also known as 15-30 legislators abound in the Philippines. They are composed of shady characters, the wealthy brats, filthy rich and the actors and actresses of the movie industry. They don’t legislate because they don’t have pet bills to introduce. They are like props warming up their benches in the hall of congress. But they are sitting like kings & queens inside their air-conditioned private rooms.
These bench warmers a.k.a. 15-30 politicos were elected by the gullible, star struck and ignorant Filipinos. The bench warmers also command millions from their pork barrel funds, lobby funds, shady deals, fat commissions and transactional crimes in high places.
The bench warmers who often practice the “forty winks” in their chambers are “right on the money” every time financial giveaways are being released to them by their allies in government. They are in collusion in running the dysfunctional system of government from the presidency down to the ignominious members of Police and Military officials.
The bench warmers in politics are second fiddle to none, because they’re on top of everything. No, they don’t entertain the people of their good services rather they entertain themselves and their families with the luxuries in life. They love politics more than anything else because the perks are eternal.