Friday, July 27, 2007 Pabling’s 24-minute speech scoring ‘travesty of justice’ sets off 4-hour debate
REP. Pablo “Pabling” Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district) expressed his disappointment Wednesday night in the House of Representatives, describing the proceedings that elected House Speaker Jose de Venecia as a “farce and a sham.”
Garcia’s 24-minute privilege speech triggered a four-hour discussion on the manner of the election last Monday.
But considering that this may be his last term in Congress or his “last hurrah,” Garcia said he will continue to fight for change and reforms in the House to take it out of its “abysmal low” public approval rating.
Desecration
“This House is often referred to as the home of democracy… And yet, in this very House last Monday afternoon, we observed a spectacle; that was an unspeakable travesty of democracy and a wanton desecration of the Rule of Law. It was so bizarre, surreal and outrageous that one neophyte congressman was heard to ask: Is this the way proceedings are being conducted in Congress?” he told his fellow legislators.
Congress did not only change the rules, it simply proceeded without rules, he said.
“The acting presiding officer was very, very transparent you could see right through them—the ugliness of obscene bias and partiality,” said Garcia.
“So bizarre, so crude, and so overbearing was the method used in getting their objective, that those perceived to oppose to their objective did not have a fair chance to oppose. They were muzzled, bamboozled and intimidated into submission.
Shut off
“There was even an order for throwing out from the hall those who disobeyed the acting presiding officer. The perceived opponents who stood up, frantically waving their hands to be recognized and wanting to speak, were either not recognized or their microphones shut off,” said Garcia.
He was joined in his lamentation by Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin, who said that he agrees with Garcia in the need for change in the legislative chamber.
“Congressmen here hold on to lucrative committees, and I hope to see that the crooks in this mafia house will not sit in the lucrative committees,” said Locsin.
De Venecia was elected despite the absence of adopted House rules, after someone said the elections is the “highest constitutional privilege.”
But Garcia, in his speech, said there is “no such animal” as highest constitutional privilege.
Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora, who was himself elected even before rules were adopted, agreed, citing his 28 years of experience as congressman.
“Is there such an animal in this legislative zoo?” asked Zamora, who assumed the position that was supposed to go to the one with the second highest number of votes for speaker.
De Venecia was nominated by Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco in what Garcia described as a “scripted and orchestrated” proceedings, a “farce and a sham.”
Instead of a motion for an election, the election started with a “motion to elect Jose De Venecia as speaker” and not a motion for an election.
The nomination was immediately closed amid objections and questions of rules from the floor that were ignored.
“I’d like to set the record straight. Nobody asked me to withdraw, we were simply not given the chance to enter the race… We have lost the battle but, as they say, our dreams will never die,” Garcia told his fellow lawmakers.
Stressing that he and the independent bloc will push for reforms, Garcia said, “If you have tears to shed, prepare to shed them.” (JPM)
