The short- & long-term solution is to abolish the Senate

What cheek. What crazy system is this that would allow the likes of Tessie Aquino Oreta and Sonny Osmeña, the balato kids, to come back from the dregs of the failed Erap impeachment process to attempt and derail government because they are senators of the land? Did we have a revolution or didn’t we have one? See what I mean. We were supposed to have had one but the anger of dissatisfaction expressed against senators who were willing to pervert the democratic process of impeachment seems to have been largely forgotten.

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I was one of those who asked the committee in charge of post-EDSA 2 actions if we were to declare a revolutionary government but I felt I had asked an unwanted question and retreated to my corner. What I had in mind in asking the question is precisely to ensure that we did not fall again into our old system as if no reforms were intended other than a changing of the guard. That was what happened during EDSA 1 and we repeated the same mistake. Had we even thought of a revolutionary government we might have moved to remove these characters who get into superior positions of government with no intention to serve the public but only their private interests? Certainly, Tessie Oreta is one of those characters who have no place as senator of the land. She riles against Secretary of Finance Jose Isidro Camacho for favoring his sister, Ma. Socorro Camacho Reyes of CODE-NGO but does not seem to be bothered that she owes her senatorship for being the youngest sister of the martyred hero Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino.

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What is happening in the Commission of Appointments hearing is a blatant display of blocking governance by personal vendetta. It is not all about fiscalizing to ensure that the public is served well. On the contrary, what Tessie Oreta has demonstrated is that personal vendetta is above the public good. Let us not get caught in the system. Let us re-examine the situation. We have senators, being paid a high price to the tune of millions of pesos to pursue their private interest no matter the harm done to the body politic. Who is to blame?

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I say that the buck stops with us because the Constitution says that the people are sovereign in a republican democracy. Moreover, the 1987 Constitution gives us way out in cases like Filipinos seem to have forgotten that that is the reason for the insertion of the People’s Initiative to amend the constitution in the 1987 Constitution. The point was to institutionalize EDSA 1 by allowing a referendum if there is enough public clamor to amend the Constitution. Unfortunately, a people’s initiative allows only a proposal for change in a given period so we have to think very carefully what we would use the People’s Initiative only for maximum effect. It looks more and more like a People’s Initiative should be best deployed into abolishing the Senate. That would stop once and for all this expensive charade of governance in what used to be a Hall of best minds of the country, not the characters that we have seen nowadays.

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From Virgilio Pantaleon of RCBC, he says the gist of the bank’s position is simply this: RCBC was only a ‘broker’. It acted as a GSED (Government Securities Eligible Dealer) on behalf of CODE-NGO during the bidding for the 10-year zero coupon bonds last October 16, 2001. RCBC Capital (the investment arm of RCBC) acted as the underwriter on behalf of CODE-NGO when the bonds were sold in the secondary market. The bottomline, Pantaleon adds, is that RCBC was not involved in any ‘scam; or insider’ trading scheme.

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We are still far from New Politics but there are bright spots that seem to point that we are moving towards that direction. I refer to the endorsement that DENR’s Secretary Heherson Alvarez is getting from the rank and file of Centrist Democrats. Whatever obstacles will be put to the confirmation of his appointment, he will be backed by a 1,500-page endorsement list.

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Manifestoes and letters of support for Alvarez, addressed to Commission chair Senate President Franklin Drilon, have flooded the Office of the DENR Secretary, which was furnished copies. As of Sunday night, 1,305 national figures and organizations gave their overwhelming support for the confirmation of Alvarez as DENR Secretary. I understand that the same is true with Department of Transportation Pantaleon Alvarez. What those endorsements mean is a consistency of party policy, with rank and file members supporting top level decisions which as the case should be in good party politics. It is even better in a parliamentary government where members of the cabinet will have public endorsement as elected officials. But that is still long in coming.

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The principle that is being established by seeking such a widespread endorsements is to demonstrate that the public interest rather than sectoral interest should count more in the confirmation of presidential appointments. Alvarez’s endorsement include 112 congressmen; 44 governors; 10 vice governors; 679 mayors; 45 vice mayors; 6 Sangguniang Panlalawigan; 5 Sangguniang Bayan; 376 NGOs/POs; and 24 religious organizations, including Catholic bishops and clergy, and other prominent members of civil society. With the endorsements, Alvarez got majority of the votes of confidence of the country’s 216 congressmen, 79 governors and 1,598 mayors. He also has endorsements from the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) National Federation and the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK National Federation who have all strongly urged the Commission to confirm Alvarez in separate resolutions. LMP has 1,496 members; LCP has 102 city-members; PCI has an estimated 18,000 councilor-members; and the SK has 1,598 members.

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My e-mail address: [email protected]