"Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few." George Bernard Shaw
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- It is believed that the best-ever Senate in the Philippines was the Sixth Congress in 1966-1969 headed by Senate President Arturo M. Tolentino.
The batch produced some of the country's greatest statesmen and brilliant lawmakers like Alejandro D. Almendras, Gaudencio E. Antonino, Magnolia W. Antonino, Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. (President Noynoy's father), Dominador R. Aytona, and the marvelous Jose W. Diokno
Sixth Congress also saw the rise of the "Stormy Petrel of the South", Iloilo City's Rodolfo T. Ganzon, idol of the timawa (poor).
There was also Eva Estrada Kalaw, Maria Kalaw Katigbak, Wenceslao R. Lagumbay, Juan R. Liwag, Genaro F. Magsaysay, Manuel P. Manahan Raul S. Manglapus, and Camilo Osias.
Cebu's Sergio Osmeña, Jr. was a member of that illustrious batch along with Emmanuel N. Pelaez, Leonardo P. Perez, Gil J. Puyat, Francisco Soc Rodrigo, Gerardo M. Roxas (Mar's father), the eminent Jovito R. Salonga, human rights behemoth Lorenzo M. Tañada, Lorenzo G. Teves, and Tecla San Andres Ziga.
WAVES
The Senate Seventh Congress (1970-1973) led by Senate President Gil J. Puyat was also making waves, what with the presence of comebacking Ambrosio B. Padilla, team captain of the RP basketball team that placed third in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, who first won as senator after he resigned as solicitor general under President Ramon Magsaysay in 1957.
But Martial Law cut short the senators' tenure in 1972.
President Ferdinand Marcos subsequently phased out the Legislature as the country's new Constitution transformed the system of government from presidential to parliamentary.
When democracy was restored after EDSA Revolution in 1986, the Senate Eight Congress (1987-1992) led by Senate President Jovito Salonga produced yet the country's most dynamic and prolific leaders like Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Rene Saguisag, Edgardo Angara, Wigberto Tanada, Teopisto Guingona Jr., Joey Lina, Orlando Mercado, Heherson Alvarez, and the lone survivor from the opposition, Martial Law architect Juan Ponce Enrile.
Now Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. was the lone casualty from the President Cory Aquino-blessed administration senatorial ticket that nearly scored a sweep (Enrile bumped off Defensor for the 24th slot).
PRESENCE
It was in the Senate Ninth Congress (1992-1995) led by Senate President Neptali Gonzalez where film comedian and action stars like Vicente Sotto III, Ramon Revilla Sr. and Freddie Webb started to make their present felt.
PBA playing-coach Robert Jaworski and putschist Gringo Honasan followed suit in the Senate 11th Congress (1998-2001) headed by Senate President Marcelo B. Fernan.
To add insult, action stars Lito Lapid, Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr., and Jinggoy Estrada completed the Senate 13th Congress (2004-2007) led by Senate President Franklin Drilon.
Another putschist Antonio Trillanes IV made it in the Senate 14th Congress (2007-2010) led by Senate President Manuel Villar.
And finally in the Senate 16th Congress (2013-2016) currently headed anew by Senate President Franklin Drilon, Ma. Lourdes "Nancy" Binay stole the limelight.
ARRIVAL
To compound the matter, the Senate 17th Congress is heading for another "disaster" with the "imminent" arrival of former bold star Alma Moreno and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.
When Pericles died in 429 BC, the Greeks mourned the loss of arguably the most prominent and influential statesman, orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age.
When Draco died in 600 BC, the Greeks wept the departure of Ancient Greece's first recorded legislator who laid down Greece's first constitution known as Draconian Constitution.
Donde estas ahora or where are you now, the Philippines' Pericles and Draco?
Probe abuses against OFWs, child
porno, not mauling of comedian
"You can't move so fast that you try to change the mores faster than people can accept it. That doesn't mean you do nothing, but it means that you do the things that need to be done according to priority." ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
By Alex P. Vidal
We became a laughing stock of the world in 2009 when we wasted taxpayers' money and time in the senate hearing that tackled the case of the lover of a famous female cosmetics surgeon and several showbiz girls and models which became known as the "Hayden Kho video sex scandal."
Aside from being romantically linked to the celebrity lady surgeon, nothing can be said to justify the misuse of public funds for the senate inquiry involving Kho, a private medical practitioner; henceforth, there was no logical reason why taxpayers money should be wasted.
A sex scandal involving a private person and his conquests who were all adults was far from being a national concern. It's mind-boggling how the sex ruckus was allowed to be tackled in the august halls over other urgent national issues while most people couldn't make both ends meet and were wallowing in abject poverty and lack of opportunities.
SECURITY
The issue did not threaten national security; it did not involve the welfare of the nation; it was not about classroom, water and rice shortage, massive graft and corruption, economic and political stability, health and environmental problems. Yet, the sex scandal inquiry authored by Sen. Bong Revilla pushed through. This explains the kind of mentality and quality of senators we elected.
And now, there is a possibility that the senate hearing zarzuela will be repeated again. Senator Jinggoy Estrada, Revilla's former showbiz colleague and co-accused in a plunder case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in relation to the multi-billion pesos "pork barrel" scam, is poised to calling for a senate inquiry into the mauling incident involving his comedian "best friend" Vhong Navarro.
Aside from being Estrada's "best friend" and a known sitcom mainstay and noontime TV show host, Navarro has no significant contribution or involvement in government or public service for that matter that will justify why his mauling should be given importance over other more pressing national issues.
ELECTED
In a nation where public servants are easily elected into office based on popularity and name-recall, it isn't far-fetched for the now famous Navarro to join his former showbiz ilk in government via electoral process once he decides to enter politics given our defective electoral system.
But the real cacophony is not only about scoundrels joining the government, but the excessive and blatant misuse of public funds and government time for useless and unproductive public hearings both in the lower and upper chambers of the House which were only always used in aid of pogi points for grandstanding politicians.
These unnecessary senate and congressional inquiries, which are myopic priorities, also send a wrong signal to the young generation. Intelligent citizens hooked on social media have become sophisticated and incandescent; and are now the force to reckon with in molding public opinion. Our elected officials should now zero in on the plight of our OFWs in Malaysia and other countries in the Middle East who are being abused, harassed and murdered. Foreign and local pedophiles have forged an alliance to perpetuate child pornography via internet as recently reported. Graft and corruption, rice smuggling, arrival of powerful drug cartels in the country, oil spill, power and gas hike, among other critical issues.
"Resistance on the part of people to the supreme legislative power of the state is never legitimate; it is the duty of the people to bear any abuse of the supreme power." IMMANUEL KANT
By Alex P. Vidal
THE light of common sense is the spark that has burst over the Senate when senate president-in-waiting Franklin Drilon sought for the abolition of the much-abhorred priority development assistance funds (PDAF) notoriously known as "pork barrel".
But like the Roman senators who praised Julius Caesar to high heavens when they faced him and lynched him when he turned his back, no one from among Drilon's peers was brave enough to sincerely support his stand in public.
Whether the Ilonggo senator meant what he said in a recent dzMM interview, at least he had the guts to speak on something many of his ilk wouldn't dare say: "Payag ako na itigil etong pork barrel para matigil na etong mga reported anomalies. Itigil natin pork barrel. Sa akin ang buod nito kung i-retain ang pork barrel talagang i-limit na lang natin among sa institutional recipients."
Most of Drilon's fellow senators and their counterparts in the Lower House pretend to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, and principles, that they do not actually possess. Their actions belie their stated beliefs.
In matters involving public interest and public funds, they also feign some desirable or publicly approved attitude, but their opinions and principles speak otherwise.
PURPOSE
The primary purpose of government is supposedly to create and maintain a stable domestic environment, but this bunch of hypocrites and their colleagues in the Lower House have eroded the people's trust and confidence on public officials in general.
Some of them are the number one thieves in government. They stole the people's money on pretext of "public service" and "countrywide development" when in truth and in fact, they serve their own wallets and develop their own pockets.
Even if they will be arrested and put inside a cage, none of them will give up the "pork barrel", the chief source of corruption and scandal that has bedeviled public service in the legislative branch.
They would rather lose and suffer embarrassment in a televised debate than face the grim prospect of finishing their terms without the fragrance of oodles upon oodles of moolah from the public coffer.
Legislators are mandated to create laws, not to decide which infrastructure project should go to a certain district in the city and province.
It's mind-boggling how our national officials were able to institutionalize appropriation of "pork barrel" for lawmakers when they are fully aware such responsibility falls under the executive branch.
DISHONESTY
This mental dishonesty among our legislators has become a culture and has been tolerated with impunity in the past and present administrations.
As long as our leaders don't have the political will and conscience, this immoral practice, the rampant misuse and squandering of taxpayers money, will go on unabated even in future administrations.
How can we right the wrong when no less than the head of the House of Representatives, Speaker Sonny Belmonte of Quezon City, has fallen in love with "pork barrel"?
"I'm against abolishing PDAF. There are so many things we can do to make sure PDAF goes to people that's doable...I'm for 100% scrutiny of PDAF. I'm also in favor of the House periodically upgrading its mechanism for knowing how it is spent and improving the way it is spent and also for making the whole thing open to the public," went Belmonte's justification.
"To the credit of the (Department of Budget and Management), they have actually been tightening up on the uses of the PDAF over the past 3 years. The rules have been tightened up for what purpose can you spend it. May listing yan, which was considerably lessened and definitely mentioned. Also the COA I know for a fact has been looking into the uses of the PDAF that has been turned over the (local government units)."
