A year of endless inquiries

In the Senate, the year 2005 will best be remembered for seemingly endless inquiries, whether in aid of legislation as per its mandate, or — as far as its critics were concerned — in aid of destabilization.

The year also saw the Senate battling for its survival amid a proposed shift to a unicameral parliamentary system in 2006, even as the chamber continued to be a major force in shaping the political landscape.

What has traditionally been an administration-dominated Senate has turned into one of ambiguity as far as political affiliation is concerned.

Senate President Franklin Drilon, once a staunch ally of President Arroyo and considered one of her more influential advisers, joined opposition calls for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation at the height of the "Hello, Garci" vote-rigging scandal in July.

Drilon along with Liberal Party mates Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan and Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, pushed for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation on July 8, the same day several key Cabinet members resigned.

Just a few days before the Liberal Party position came out, Drilon made a public show of support to the President and offered her refuge in his home province of Iloilo if and when things turn from bad to worse.

Forced to defend himself, Drilon claimed that he had no choice but to distance himself from the President following her supposed refusal to heed his advice on how to deal with the crisis she was facing.

He said that the scandals hounding Mrs. Arroyo and her refusal to address them prompted his decision as well as his party’s to break its ties with the President.

The impeachment cases filed against the President before the House of Representatives failed to prosper but this did not prevent critics of Mrs. Arroyo to use other channels in bringing out their concerns.

Inquiries on the scandals came one after the other in the Senate and have been the focus of the chamber’s attention for most of the second half of the year.

But during the first quarter of 2005, the Senate was notably "cooperative" with the executive department and their counterparts at the House as the Attrition Bill, 2005 budget and the expanded value added tax (EVAT) law were passed.

However, Senate investigations in the alleged jueteng bribery involving members of the First Family and ranking police and local government officials; the "Hello, Garci" wiretap tapes and the P728-million fertilizer scam at the Department of Agriculture accented the growing rift between the Palace and the Senate.

In May, the entire country was glued to national television and reading latest scoops on the revelations of jueteng witnesses who testified before the Senate committees on public order and illegal drugs, and games and amusement.

Several witnesses — including confessed jueteng bagwoman Sandra Cam, displaced jueteng operator Wilfredo "Boy" Mayor, and Michaelangelo Zuce, former assistant of presidential adviser Joey Rufino, over the vast operations of the illegal numbers game in the country, each said their piece before senators.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz, of the Archdiocese of Dagupan, was also key in the inquiry. Cruz, who had exposed the jueteng protection racket, brought in the witnesses. The bishop too became a subject of a demolition job and death threats.

Also a resource person at the yet to be concluded jueteng inquiry was former Bicol regional police director and now retired Chief Superintendent Restituto Mosqueda, whom Cam had identified as one of the trusted police officials of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and Rep. Mikey Arroyo.

Cam, described as an influence peddler by some police sources, testified and presented bank transaction receipts on the millions of money to Mosqueda’s bank accounts.

Minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr and Sen. Panfilo Lacson questioned Mosqueda over vast properties he allegedly acquired through jueteng money in Cavite.

Mosqueda was chief of the PNP Crime Laboratory at a time when the "Jose Pidal" signatures — which the opposition claimed to be owned by the First Gentleman — were examined and reviewed by the Senate.

Witnesses Richard Garcia and Abraham Demosthenes Riva both implicated the Arroyos father and son and even presidential brother-in-law Negros Rep. Ignacio Arroyo in the receipt of millions of jueteng proceeds from gambling operators in Bicol up to Baguio City.

The President’s camp has vehemently denied the allegations with the Arroyos father and son going into self-imposed exile in the United States for several months until they returned to the country in time for All Saints’ Day.

The Senate committees on public order and games and amusements, respectively headed by Senators Manny Villar, and Lito Lapid, have yet to issue committee reports to wrap up the jueteng inquiry.

Almost parallel to the jueteng inquiry, the Senate also conducted an inquiry into the election fraud in the 2004 elections as the Senate committee on national defense and security looked into the contents of the "Hello Garci" wiretap tapes and possible breach of security.

The Senate invited two military officials — Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani and Lt. Col. Alexander Balutan — who testified on the alleged massive fraud in the 2004 elections.

Gudani is the assistant superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy and Balutan the deputy commandant of the PMA Corps of Cadets.

Gudani, the Marine commander in Lanao del Sur during the election last year, told the Senate hearing into alleged wiretapping of the President that he saw vote-buying and other irregularities aimed at ensuring Mrs. Arroyo’s election victory.

"This is the only place where I saw cheating from start to end," he said of Lanao del Sur, where Mrs. Arroyo won. "They were herding voters from other towns" to polling centers while politicians handed out money to buy votes, he said.

He said an unnamed friend of his had helped the President’s husband personally deliver bundles of money estimated at P500 million. The money was supposedly sent to Mindanao for vote-buying.

Jesus Santos, a spokesman for Mr. Arroyo, denied the general’s accusations and hit back at Gudani for "spreading falsehood and black propaganda."

The Senate had called the probe into opposition audio tapes released in June that contain a conversation between a woman who sounds like Mrs. Arroyo and a supposed election official allegedly plotting to cheat in the election.

The tape triggered a public backlash and a political crisis that led to the President’s near impeachment in Congress, which was thrown out in September. Among those summoned to the hearing were the Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Generoso Senga, the Army chief, Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, the head of military intelligence and two other officials.

Standing one’s ground

Now facing possible abolition if the Arroyo administration succeeds in having a unilateral form of government in the next two years, Drilon stood his ground that the Senate will not be abolished under the present system.

"That will not happen under our system. In 2007, there will be an election. Twelve senators would bow out of office and 12 senators will be coming in. Unless a change happens, the 2007 elections will proceed," Drilon said in September.

A majority of senators had also opposed the recommendation of the constitutional commission’s recommendation to extend the terms of the President, senators and congressmen as well as local officials until 2010.

The senators seemed to be in favor of Charter change but through constitutional convention, perceived to be less expensive by a number of groups. However, they were strongly against term extension, which they described as "self-serving."

Drilon’s post as Senate president also became an issue because his opposition colleagues need him to have an adversarial stance against the government. A senator has described Drilon’s keeping his post as mere "sufferance."

Drilon however is set to relinquish the Senate presidency to Villar in 2006 in a gentleman’s agreement at the start of the present Congress.

Drilon maintained that the Senate has always been an institution which would be willing to stand up on certain issues. "This is part of the effort to discredit the Senate because of the position that we have taken. This is part of a free and open society. We have our own position to defend and certainly, we will defend it to the best of our ability," Drilon said in one of his interviews.

Beset by calls for abolition and a question on the credibility of the Senate, Drilon said the Senate has always stood as an independent institution, often at odds with the President.

"Insofar as the constituency is concerned, the senators and the President have the same contingency; which is the entire Filipino people as contrasted to the representation by district of the congressmen," Drilon said.

EO 464

To make the matters worse for the executive department and the Senate, members of the Arroyo cabinet snubbed on Sept. 29 the Senate inquiry on the controversial North Luzon Railways Corp. (Northrail) contract.

It was on Sept. 28 that the Palace issued Executive Order No. 464 preventing any government and military and police official from appearing before congressional inquiries without the Chief Executive’s approval.

The Senate has convened itself into the Committee of the Whole in a bid to circumvent the executive order.

Drilon said the committee will have to adopt the recommendation of the UP Law Center once members of the Arroyo Cabinet failed to appear before the committee.

A study of the UP Law Center has described as illegal and flawed the $503-million Northrail contract for violating accounting and auditing laws of the country.

An initial opinion provided by the center found the Northrail contract as "unlawful and void" for not undergoing public bidding.

The Senate conducted an inquiry into the project last September in response to the privilege speech of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile in February on the final contract, which involves rehabilitation of a 32-kilometer railway running from Caloocan City to Malolos City in Bulacan.

The contract was awarded to the China National Machinery and Equipment Corp. (CNMEC) using a loan secured from China’s Export-Import Bank (Eximbank).

In the 28-page report, the UP Law Center study said the contract could not be viewed as a treaty or executive agreement, and that there was no certification of availability of funds for the government’s counterpart fund of $82 million.

The UP lawyers also recommended that the government and other individuals involved in the contract be charged criminally and administratively.

Also in September, the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP) led by National Security adviser Norberto Gonzales sought for the abolition of the Senate. The group said a big number of senators were interested in creating another political controversy rather than knowing the details of the contract between American firm, Venable LLP, and the government.

The PDSP accused the Senate of "creating political instability while using the argument of the public’s right to information on matters of public concern."

In seeking of the Senate’s abolition, the group also questioned the moral ascendancy of the Senate in conducting inquiries when it has failed to do its duties in the enactment of laws.

"Abolishing the Senate would free-up much needed funding for social services. The P1.336 billion allocated to the Senate is enough to give our teachers, our soldiers, or our policemen decent salary increase," the PDSP said.

Last October, Pimentel called on his colleagues both in the Senate and the House of Representatives to see to it that these inquiries are finished down to their logical conclusion.

At the Senate alone, the public has yet to see resolutions over the inquiries on the jueteng controversy, by the commitee on public order and illegal drugs); Venable LLP, by the Blue Ribbon Committee; Northrail contract, by the Committee of the Whole; "Hello Garci" tapes, by the committee on defense and national security); and the fertilizer fund, by the committee on agriculture.

Pimentel said the failure of the committees concerned to complete the probe of certain fraudulent government deals and to establish the liability or guilt of the parties involved largely explains the people’s feeling of disenchantment over legislative investigations.

"Senate investigations are worthless if they do not end in specific findings. The probe of the jueteng scandal, the Venable contract, the Northrail mess, the fertilizer fund scam and the missing ballot boxes — all of these investigations should result in concrete recommendations," Pimentel said. "If not, then, indeed, the investigations are not worth the time and the effort expended on them."

In defending the Senate’s moves to conduct inquiries, Pimentel said the people expect too much from these congressional probes in terms of nailing down the erring public officials and their private sector accomplices so that they can be prosecuted and properly punished by the courts.

Naturally, he said they would feel frustrated if nothing comes out of the inquiry due to cover-up attempts and pressures from Malacañang which faces the risk of being embarrassed and indicted from the revelations of sordid facts behind every controversy and anomaly.

Pimentel expressed hope that the Supreme Court will invalidate EO 464 for impairing the investigative powers of Congress.

Pimentel said the inquiries are necessary to maintain the principle of checks and balance among the three independent branches of government.

After more than a month under Senate custody, security adviser Gonzales was granted provisional release by Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Sen. Joker Arroyo and 13 other senators on Oct. 26.

Arroyo said this would allow the national security adviser to be able to seek medical treatment, without prejudice to the committee’s decision to re-open in the

After due deliberation, the Senate, in the report, condemned the Venable agreement because it "contravenes the Constitution and the Omnibus Election Code which prohibits interference in the country’s suffrage."

"The President of the Philippines, presumable as a consequence of this inquiry, has ordered that the Venable agreement be rescinded. The potential damage to the country was thus aborted," the report read.

The report added that "The mystery over the identity or identities of the private donor(s) who funded the Venable agreement as well as the identity of the party who referred the Venable LLP to the Philippine Government remains unanswered because of Secretary Gonzales’ mysterious intransigence."

The Senate came out with the decision after Gonzales was placed under "hospital arrest" for almost a month.

As the year ends, the Senate has not softened on its stand in conducting inquiries particularly on cases of corruption and graft.

Former agriculture undersecretary Jocjoc Bolante continued to evade the Senate committee on food and agriculture despite the Senate’s move to cite him for contempt and ordering his arrest.

The Senate expressed belief that the Arroyo camp used the money — originally intended for fertilizers — in the 2004 elections.

Other bills

The Senate managed to reset the barangay elections to October next year because of the budgetary problems of the national government.

With no funds available to hold the elections in October 2005 as scheduled, the Senate passed the bill to defer the barangay elections and synchronize this with the sangguniang kabataan elections in October 2006.

The House of Representatives as well as Malacañang wanted to defer the barangay elections until 2008 but this faced stiff opposition from the a number of senators who smelled partisan politics in the proposal.

Members of the political opposition in the Senate suspected that the President was offering the 2008 election scenario to gather support from the local government level for her administration by giving the local officials with a term extension.

They claimed that financing of the elections for next year could be sourced from various areas including the internal revenue allotment of the barangays.

Responding to the concerns of the millions of tenants across the country, the Senate also passed the extension of the Rent Control Act.

The law would protect the country’s lessees who pay rent of not more than P10,000 from exorbitant increases by their lessors.

With a greater portion of the population unable to afford purchasing their own houses, the rent control law provides the tenants with some peace of mind at least as far as an increase in their rent is concerned.

The Senate also passed the bill fixing the term of the Armed Forces of the Philippines chief to three years.

Under the bill, the AFP chief would have a fixed term of three years starting from the day he was appointed.

This, the Senate argued, would ensure stability and continuity of the programs of the AFP and do away with the situations when a chief of staff is in place for only a few months because they have reached retirement age.

With the new law fixing the term of the AFP chief, the only instances when the three-year tenure may be broken is if the President feels there is loss of confidence and if there is war or national emergencies.

Before the end of the year, the Senate managed to pass a bill that has been pending for a long time and that was being lobbied for extensively by child rights advocates.

The Juvenile Justice Bill was finally approved by the Senate and was welcomed by the cause-oriented groups and rights organizations both domestically and abroad.

With the passage of the bill, the thousands of children languishing in jail would be given a chance to resume a normal life including going back to school.

The United Nations Children’s Fund welcomed the passage of the bill and praised the Senate for giving the minors in jail a second chance in life.

Before the existence of the bill, children apprehended for committing various crimes or violations have been treated no differently from their adult counterparts and are even made to share the same jail facilities as the hardened criminals.

The passage of the bill allowed the Senate to end its regular sessions for the year on a high note after taking in criticism for the most part of the year.

However, when compared to the House of Representatives, the number of bills passed by the Senate would seem rather anemic.

Drilon defended the performance of the Senate by saying that they prioritize matters of national importance.

He said that 85 to 90 percent of the bills coming from the House deal with changing the names of streets, converting barangay, municipal and provincial high schools into national high schools and the conversion of local roads to national roads.

"It is not in the quantity but in the quality of the laws we pass," Drilon said.

Still, the Senate is facing another problem in the form of the 2006 national budget, which has yet to be passed.

In fairness to the Senate, the House of Representatives has not yet transmitted its version of the budget to the Senate and so the upper chamber could not do anything about it.

The Senate did try to speed up the process and hope for passing the bill before the end of the year by conducting almost daily budget hearings for the various Departments and agencies of the government.

However, there was just not enough time left and so the country has to contend with a reenacted budget for at least the first quarter of 2006.

The Senate would be starting 2006 with the continuation of the budget hearings and a debate on the proposed anti-terrorism law.

Malacañang and the House of Representatives have been pressuring the Senate to tackle charter change or the amendments to the Constitution.

Specifically, the administration wants to change the form of government from presidential to parliamentary through a constituent assembly.

But resistance from the Senate is strong as there is suspicion that Charter change is being pushed only to serve the motives of the President and her allies.

If the proposed amendments to the Constitution are approved, what we know as Congress today would no longer be present as this would be transformed to a single parliament.