Lawmakers seek revival of congressional oversight committee

MANILA, Philippines - The independent bloc of lawmakers in the House of Representatives called on the revival of the Congressional Oversight Committee in the 16th Congress to further ensure transparency and accountability in government.

Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, head of the independent bloc, filed House Resolution 268 seeking to revive the panel that was in existence from the 12th to the 14th Congress.

The panel, whose main function was to evaluate the performance of all government agencies, was abolished during the 15th Congress for being redundant, according to the present House leadership.

“Legislative oversight is the process by which Congress takes an active role in understanding, monitoring and evaluating the performance of state bodies and instrumentalities and applies this knowledge to its three other functions, namely, making laws and public policy, setting budgets, and raising revenues,” the resolution said.

“If the House truly wants the strengthening of democratic institutions, this is one way to do it – strengthening the oversight function of the chamber, through the standing Committee on Oversight and the subcommittee on oversight of the regular committees, if there is any.”

The resolution was also introduced by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; her son, Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Macapagal-Arroyo, and Reps. Lito Atienza (Buhay party-list); Jonathan de la Cruz (Abakada-Guro party-list); Abdullah Dimaporo; Imelda Dimaporo (Lanao del Norte); Victor Ortega (La Union); Philip Pichay (Surigao del Sur); Lani Mercado-Revilla (Cavite), and Aleta Suarez (Quezon).

Romualdez said the committee “shall exercise the duties and powers of a standing committee and shall have jurisdiction over all matters directly relating to transparency and accountability in government operations, including those manifested in audit reports of COA, referred complaints by civil society organizations and other executive oversight instrumentalities.”