Tuesday, April 24, 2007 Cabaero: Congress’ low performance By Nini B. Cabaero Beyond 30
THE investigative report on the 13th Congress’ performance opens our eyes to how our lawmakers, a number of them seeking reelection this May, are paying us back.
It is a shame that the performance of Congress in enacting laws has hit a record low. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report written by Lala Ordenes-Cascolan said the performance of the current Congress has been lackluster in terms of the passage of laws. It said Congress has non-legislative powers like conducting investigations and hearing impeachment complaints but its primary task is still the enactment of laws and it is on this that Congress’s performance is measured.
The report said a single law now costs the Filipino people about P148.9 million. Congress has an allocation of P12.51 billion. Divide this amount by the number of laws passed, which is 84, and you get the cost per law enacted at P148.9 million.
One interesting finding in the report is that lawmakers are into local issues like granting citizenship status to foreigners to converting towns into cities. As one legislator said, they are more concerned with local issues or with “bringing home the bacon.”
Their pork barrel fund or their discretionary fund is being used to put up infrastructure like schools and hospitals that, in many cases, would bear their names. The infrastructure projects are good developments for the district and the constituents must be glad. Except that being a Congress member is primarily about making laws and not building roads and bridges. There must be some confusion over the job responsibilities of a legislator.
This propensity to address district rather than national concerns is for the purpose of gaining positive points come election time, the report said.
It is election time again. Candidates are doing their campaign rounds to convince voters to pick them this May 14 elections. For the candidates, this is the time to issue promises or to present achievements in terms of roads built and classrooms constructed.
Following the PCIJ report, they might as well take it easy on the promises part and put more energy into drafting their legislative programs based on the results of consultations with the public.
The primary responsibility of a member of Congress is to enact laws. There are several secondary responsibilities like conducting investigations in aid of legislation and hearing impeachment complaints. But if a member of Congress were to be given a job assessment, the measurement of performance would weigh heavily on the primary responsibility. This must be made clear to those seeking to be members of Congress.
But if they find fulfillment in building schools and hospitals, then they should run for a local executive position and not seek to be a national legislator.
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The online chat with Cebu City candidates for vice mayor Michael Rama and Raymond Garcia will happen today, Tuesday, at 10 a.m. at the Sun.Star website’s chat room at www.sunstar.com.ph/chat.
Rama, who is seeking a last term, and rival candidate Garcia will take turns in answering questions from chat participants in this two-hour online chat organized by www.sunstar.com.ph and the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper.
