Wednesday, November 15, 2006 Talk back: Senate no better than House By Alfredo J. Sipalay Cebu City
Published last Nov. 8 in Sun.Star Cebu was lawyer Democrito C. Barcenas’ informative article arguing why the House of Representatives---and not the Senate---should be abolished.
The said piece was in reaction to the call of three Cebuano congressmen for the abolition of the Senate.
Barcenas argued that the House is subservient to Malacañang and that congressmen readily switch allegiance to the party in power.
He praised the Senate, alleging that, “from the excesses of the Quirino regime to the cupidity of the Arroyo administration, the Senate showed its capacity for independence.”
I beg to disagree. I submit that the Senate is no better than the House.
Senate President Jose Avelino will always be remembered for saying: “What are we in power for?”
And that was during then president Elpidio Quirino’s administration 55 years ago.
More recently, we had then senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta doing the jig when she and 10 other senator-judges successfully scuttled the opening of the second envelope containing the bank records of “Jose Velarde” during the aborted impeachment trial of then president Joseph Estrada in December 2000 to January 2001.
With Erap in jail, our countrymen eagerly elected his legal wife and eldest son to the august halls of the Senate.
Now, another son (from another wife) is showing interest to become an honorable senator too.
And with good-looking actors as our senators, who needs legislation?
Sure, the Senate has produced great leaders in Jose P. Laurel, Claro M. Recto, Jose W. Diokno, Jovito Salonga and Lorenzo Tañada, just to name a few.
But it also churned out Ferdinand Marcos, Erap, GMA and Noli de Castro.
Sure, we have despicable, spineless, opportunistic congressmen.
But we did have Sergio Osmeña Sr., speaker of the National Assembly (which is equivalent to speaker of the House now).
At present, we have that gentleman from Compostela Valley, Rep. Manuel Zamora, who goes to office in a bicycle and parks it beside the Ford Expeditions and Mercedes Benzes of his honorable colleagues.
Frankly, I don’t think western style democracy works in our country--–with senators and congressmen spending hundreds of millions of pesos in order to get elected.
And get paid something like P50,000 a month for the effort.
When President Marcos declared martial law in 1971 and imprisoned opposition leaders like Ninoy Aquino, Nene Pimentel and Mocring Barcenas, many Filipinos actually welcomed it.
They were tired of the obstructionists in Congress.
They were weary of corruption in all places.
They were terrified of the rampaging criminality and endemic poverty.
If only Marcos acted like Singapore’s Lee Kwan Yew.
Well, he didn’t.
So, we will again elect senators and congressmen next year.
