Life is better without the clowns

“Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?"

—Will Rogers

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WE have been advocating for abolition of the Philippine Senate, the Upper Chamber of the House, since 2013 or 12 years ago.

Even before the shameful acrobatics of the “Dirty 18” (composed of unprincipled and cowards who voted to “remand” the impeachment complaint filed against Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio), we already noticed that the presence of senators in the life of Filipinos was antipathetic and maleficent.

At this early, we predict that the impeachment case to be unravelled officially during the 20th congress will end up as a smorgasbord of comedy, circus, humiliation for the crooks and rascals, and embarrassment for the entire nation. 

We just don’t have trust and confidence with most of the incoming sitting judges-senators. They are palookas, nondescripts, unreliable, political hooligans who cower in fear at the mere sight of the Duterte family.  

Our disgust and disappointment originated specifically from the ugly mudslinging bout between the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and now Presidential Legal Chief Juan Ponce Enrile which had wasted millions of pesos in taxpayers' money.

And the mushrooming of flood of pork barrel and other pelfs and privileges so horrendous and scandalous they would dwarf Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

 

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Th Miriam-Enrile joust and the presence of the current clowns and political back riders happened because we have a useless branch of government that is actually not necessary and should have been dissolved a long time ago.

If we have a parliamentary form of government, we can never have the likes of Robin, Bato, Jinggoy, Bong (Revilla and Go), Lito Lapid, Joel, the Villars (mother, son, daughter), among other inutile senators.

No pork barrel, no popularity contest, and no unnecessary committee investigations that are only actually in aid of grandstanding rather than legislation.

The early senators in history never resorted to personal insults and slander unlike what we have in the Philippines today.

Senators had been part of Roman government since Romulus, the first king of Rome, who created 100 senators to advise him, especially in the case of alliances and treaties.

When Romulus died, there was no obvious candidate to replace him and the Roman senators feared that one of the neighboring states would take over Rome, so they set up a temporary government.

They gave power to a chosen individual for only five days at time, after which the next in line took over.

The time under this rotating government was called an interregnum meaning it was the government between (inter) the kings.

The Roman People were happy to see the end of the interregnum because they felt that during it they were ruled by 100 masters, instead of just a single monarch.

The late President Fidel Ramos’ former press secretary Hector R. Villanueva was right when he referred to the upper chamber as "disgraceful senate."

 

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We agree with Villanueva when he once called the Philippine Senate as "a redundant, effete, wasteful, and costly institution that, in reality, does not represent anybody, or any sector, or any region of the country other than the self-serving interests of its members."

It is a myth and parody to believe that senators represent the entire Filipino people.

Once elected, the senators go their own merry ways, and the nation can go fly a kite till the next election, Villanueva had stressed.

"If truth be told, a unicameral National Assembly in a parliamentary form of government can perform just as effectively and rationally without a Senate.

"The Upper Chamber has become unnecessary and irrelevant.

"In many countries, the Senate or upper Assembly is a ceremonial and appointive honorific Chamber composed of retired justices, professors emeritus, retired statesmen, outstanding business leaders, exceptional professionals in the sciences, extraordinary women, and experienced diplomats.

 

-o0o-

 

"Its main functions are, among others, as a treaty ratifying body, an impeachment court, a welcoming party to arriving foreign dignitaries, and other ceremonial duties.

"Expectedly, the members are entitled to respectable stipends and perks sans the PDAF to insulate them from corruption and the vagaries of politics.

"Alas, the current 16th Congress, as a whole, is a disgrace to the nation, and a despicably bad example to the youth of the country.

"Hence, it is an opportune time to renew and revive discussions on Constitutional revisions, term limits, and unicameralism.

"Though we have good friends among the senators, and there are outstanding, fresh, youthful, and exciting newly-elected senators, the Philippine Senate itself in recent years has fallen into disrepute, corruption, incessant squabbling, lackluster productivity, and obsessive partisanship that is making the Senate increasingly unnecessary and not cost-effective.

"The Filipino would not miss its absence and demise if the Senate were to be abolished.

"When all is said and done, it is never too late for the senators to redeem themselves and regain the respect and support of the general public.

"However, there is a new generation out there of politically conscious and activist youths who are highly skilled in the use of social media that is double-bladed and can cut both ways."

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

No Ilonggo lawmaker is ‘pipitsugin’

"As lawmakers, our job is to listen to our constituents. If our phones are ringing off the hook with people demanding to know where we stand on an issue, we pay attention.”
--Chris Murphy

By Alex P. Vidal

NO historian will write about an Ilonggo lawmaker who is “NPA” or “non-performing asset” in both the Lower and Upper chambers of Philippine Congress.
No chronicler of the past will claim that legislators from the south are “no talk and, therefore, no utok (to borrow the late Senator Roding Ganzon’s bombshells).”
Almost all senators and representatives with Ilonggo blood running in their veins have given the country tremendous glory and prestige since the pre-war era, and the list of these outstanding lawmakers from the Western Visayas is expanding every election year.
When they are in the rostrum, Ilonggo lawmakers will make sure the words that come out from their mouths aren’t non-sense or will become the sources of humiliation for their heritage and culture.
This could only mean one thing: we have quality leaders and quality voters to boot.
One of the remaining few titanic voices in the Senate today is Senator Franklin Drilon from Molo, Iloilo City.

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The former Senate President made many Ilonggos proud of him when he recently schooled on the basics of parliamentary interpellation neophyte but aggressive Senator Francis Tolentino of Cavite, who probably wanted to impress the nation when he introduced some “novel legal theories” in his recent inaugural privilege speech.
Tolentino, a lawyer like Drilon, must’ve underestimated his colleagues’ capacity to think when he asserted that President Rodrigo Duterte’s oral agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping, allowing China to fish in Philippine waters, was valid and legally binding.
“There is no restriction on either the form or substance of international agreements,” Tolentino.
Drilon thundered: “Many of these I have heard for the first time. These theories, however, in our view, are not settled.”
The Ilonggo Senate Minority Leader, who believes that the best avenue to test the validity of such “novel theories” is through a committee hearing and not on the floor, added: “I am prepared to debate on the propositions here and now, but we do not claim to have a monopoly of legal knowledge. That’s why we qualify and deny the attribution that we are a legal luminary.”

-o0o-

We saw how greenhorn Tolentino capitulated after Drilon’s barrage of snipes when Tolentino asserted: “There is no restriction on either the form or substance of international agreements.”
Drilon parried Tolentino’s theory: “Following this proposition, can the President of the Republic enter into an oral or even a written agreement ceding the island of Panay, even if it is contrary to Article I of our Constitution on national territory?”
Drilon pumped more bullets: “If there is no restriction as to form, can multilateral agreements be in the form of an oral agreement? I cannot imagine the difficulty of enforcing a verbal multilateral agreement. Can we enter into an agreement that is in conflict with the Constitution, despite the latter being an internal law of fundamental importance if we say there’s no restriction as to the substance of the verbal agreement?”

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Drilon showed all and sundry you don’t parade a shallow intellectual stunt in the presence of sharp-witted and sagacious legislators especially if you are beginning to make a name for yourself before a “live” session aired worldwide.
It was fine if Tolentino’s interpellators were, with due respect, the honorable Senators Lito Lapid, Manny Pacquiao, Bong Revilla, Bong Go, and Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.
Not Drilon. Not Sen. Ralph Recto and other remaining sensible senators today. 
And certainly not another Ilonggo intellectual behemoth, the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
We missed the best woman President the Philippines never had, especially when she unmasked the charlatans, head-butt the idiots, and clobbered the ninny lobcocks in a tension-filled privilege speech and nerve-biting but hilarious Senate committee hearings.
Tolentino and the pack of intellectual peacocks and rattlesnakes now occupying the Senate are lucky Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, a true-blue Ilongga darling of the masa and a fire-spewing legal and constitutional authority, was no longer around.
Erap once quipped: “Pupulutin kayo sa kangkongan.”
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Abolish the Senate

"Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?" WILL ROGERS

By Alex P. Vidal

The mudslinging bout between Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Juan Ponce Enrile has cost taxpayers millions of pesos.
It's a waste of time and money. 
This is happening because we have a useless branch of government that is actually not necessary and should have been abolished a long time ago.
If we have a parliamentary form of government, we can never have the likes of Jinggoy, Bong, Lito Lapid, among other inutile senators. No pork barrel, no popularity contest, and no unnecessary committee investigations that are only actually in aid of grandstanding rather than legislation. 
The early senators in history never resorted to personal insults and slander unlike what we have in the Philippines today.
Senators had been part of Roman government since Romulus, the first king of Rome, who created 100 senators to advise him, especially in the case of alliances and treaties.

DIED

When Romulus died, there was no obvious candidate to replace him and the Roman senators feared that one of the neighboring states would take over Rome, so they set up a temporary government.
They gave power to a chosen individual for only five days at time, after which the next in line took over.
The time under this rotating government was called an interregnum meaning it was the government between (inter) the kings.
The Roman People were happy to see the end of the interregnum because they felt that during it they were ruled by 100 masters, instead of just a single monarch.
Former Press Secretary Hector R. Villanueva was right when he referred to the upper chamber as "disgraceful senate."
I agree with Villanueva when he called the Philippine Senate today as "a redundant, effete, wasteful, and costly institution that, in reality, does not represent anybody, or any sector, or any region of the country other than the self-serving interests of its members."

MYTH

It is a myth and parody to believe that senators represent the entire Filipino people. Once elected, the senators go their own merry ways, and the nation can go fly a kite till the next election, Villanueva stressed.
"If truth be told, a unicameral National Assembly in a parliamentary form of government can perform just as effectively and rationally without a Senate.
"The Upper Chamber has become unnecessary and irrelevant.
"In many countries, the Senate or upper Assembly is a ceremonial and appointive honorific Chamber composed of retired justices, professors emeritus, retired statesmen, outstanding business leaders, exceptional professionals in the sciences, extraordinary women, and experienced diplomats.

FUNCTIONS

"Its main functions are, among others, as a treaty ratifying body, an impeachment court, a welcoming party to arriving foreign dignitaries, and other ceremonial duties.
"Expectedly, the members are entitled to respectable stipends and perks sans the PDAF to insulate them from corruption and the vagaries of politics.
"Alas, the current 16th Congress, as a whole, is a disgrace to the nation, and a despicably bad example to the youth of the country.
"Hence, it is an opportune time to renew and revive discussions on Constitutional revisions, term limits, and unicameralism.

FRIENDS

"Though we have good friends among the senators, and there are outstanding, fresh, youthful, and exciting newly-elected senators, the Philippine Senate itself in recent years has fallen into disrepute, corruption, incessant squabbling, lackluster productivity, and obsessive partisanship that is making the Senate increasingly unnecessary and not cost-effective.
"The Filipino would not miss its absence and demise if the Senate were to be abolished.
"When all is said and done, it is never too late for the senators to redeem themselves and regain the respect and support of the general public.
"However, there is a new generation out there of politically conscious and activist youths who are highly skilled in the use of social media that is double-bladed and can cut both ways."