Unless otherwise provided
THIS week we will see the House of Representatives constituting itself into a committee of the whole to deal with the recently filed Resolution of Both Houses 7 (RBH 7), a verbatim lift from the Senate version RBH 6 except for the manner of voting. RBH 6 calls for separate voting of the chambers, while RBH 7 is silent on voting jointly or separately.
The crux of the matter is Article XVII on amendments or revisions to which it is stated under Section 1, “any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by (1) the Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members.” So, it appears that each chamber will vote on it and will meet in a bicameral conference to reconcile the drafts just like they would on ordinary legislation. For some quarters, that cannot hold water but put lawyers in one room, and there cannot be any agreement; only those with booming voices get the nod.
The committee of the whole (CoW) bypasses the committee system and uses the plenary powers of the chamber to get legislative work done. The CoW is the entire membership of the chamber. Each time the chamber resolves itself into a CoW to deliberate on a specific matter, a new committee is created. Once that committee has completed its business, it ceases to exist. The purpose of a CoW is to relax the usual limits on debate, allowing a more open exchange of views without the urgency of a final vote. Debates in a committee of the whole may be recorded but are often excluded from the assembly’s minutes.
According to the publicity material coming out of the House, the CoW is “for exhaustive, inclusive and expeditious deliberation of RBH No. 7.” It will cover only Articles XII (National Economy and Patrimony), XIV (Education, Science and Technology, Arts, Culture and Sports) and XVI (General Provisions). It is being positioned as the agenda for prosperity, and the House is the leader of Congress. The amendment is via the introduction of the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law.” This phrase would allow Congress to introduce legislation on public utility, equity participation in public utilities, and participation of foreign investors, basic educational institutions and the advertising industry.
And just like that, the “politicians’ initiative” was swept under the rug with no one being held accountable for the deception, the rush, the use of public funds, and the stealth operation that has been associated with whatever the House speaker initiated. Pirma has no legal personality and is a total sham, composed of a moneyed individual assisted by a law firm and a bunch of lawyers who do not see anything wrong with what they started. The moneyed individual even said no one can stop Pirma because it is a people’s effort. Shame on them. And the speaker distanced himself from it ostensibly due to the use of taxpayers’ money, put up a phalanx of supporters with daily pressers, with one saying, “House will always defend Romualdez, its ‘padre de pamilya.’”
The speaker lords it over the government communication machinery and, of late, was the one who announced what the leader instructed him to give the families of soldiers who died in an encounter in Lanao del Norte. The speaker is from the legislative branch, and the President is from the executive branch. But more and more, the speaker acts like a president, allowed by the leader and enabled by the first lady. What a sordid mess we are in these days.
Accountability has been set aside as to the politicians’ initiative, and transparency is zero. Record-keeping (insertions and all that happens at the bicameral level, especially during the budget process) and credibility are at an ebb in terms of congressional history. PDAF and DAP come to mind. By and large, the attention of citizens has been shifting to how the relationship between citizens and their representatives evolve. The pork barrel, insertions, earmarks and a lot more dilute political accountability because the reality is that members of Congress, especially the House, need to bring something home to their districts. This gets worse when more and more contractors are running for public office to game the system. Today, as per former senator Panfilo Lacson, there are 62 contractors who are legislators.
Do politicians get rewarded for good performance based on bills becoming laws? Based on the oversight function that saved the Republic, some monies are lined up for unprogrammed items? What counts as acceptable and unacceptable behavior among members of Congress? Are citizens paying more attention, or do they do so when triggered by anomalies and corruption? Can they get the information they need to demand accountability when the liquidation of monies is done by mere certification? Trust and confidence are things of the past since we have a speaker who loves to overreach in every aspect of governance.
Congress will adjourn from March 23 to April 28. They only have 12 session days left to pull out what they want to achieve in lieu of the politicians’ initiative.
The great men and women who carved their careers in Congress are gone. Those remaining are watching, silenced by the actuation of a leader and his cabal, all bent on using power and the levers of power to get what they want, even using a public mandate they themselves knew would be very hard to come by save with ayuda. The distrust is high. We end up questioning the use of the power to instill transparency and accountability. But shouldn’t that be part and parcel of being elected? Transparency is the new objectivity.