Thursday, February 08, 2007
Oldest congressman bids adieu
NEGROS Oriental Representative Herminio Teves, the oldest member of the 13th House of Representatives, bade goodbye to his colleagues and to the institution he has served for the last nine years.
But in his last privilege speech late Monday, Teves didn't have any qualms hitting his colleagues for not having shown enough courage to put much dignity to the institution when they failed to act on several measures.
Teves also said Congress, particularly the House of Representatives, which he had served for three terms since 1998, failed to show its independence and most of the time acted on major decisions based on dictates coming from somewhere else.
In his speech, Teves expressed disappointment at the leadership of the House and to the members as well, whom he claimed had compromised the chamber's independence for a long time.
Teves, who is in his mid-80s and chairs the House ways and means committee, is the father of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves. The older Teves had proposed many measures meant to improve the government's tax collection efforts.
Most of the measures he proposed were on tax reforms. But all his proposed tax reform measures did not gain ground and the older Teves put the blame on the Senate.
He said while the 1987 Constitution directs the House to come up with revenue measures, the Senate, in many cases, had usurped this function.
Congressman Teves also hit at the executive branch for dictating on what Congress should do.
"Worse, the Lower House easily and blindly follows whatever Malacañang says," he added. (DBP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (February 8, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
