Wasting time

There is something wrong here. The public is anxious that Congress, both the House and the Senate should pass the tax bills necessary to avert a ‘fiscal crisis’ but it is to no avail. It is the Senate, not the House which is to blame. The House has now approved three of the tax bills with one more to be approved in the following days. I had a short chat with an assistant of a senator who said that the Senate was working on it and these will be approved in time. Masyadong mababa, was how he described the tax bills passed by the House. So the argument goes. But how long will we have to wait until the Senate comes up with its own version of masyadong mababa taxes.

I realized I was talking to a wall. The urgency that one might expect from the legislators was simply not there. There is a disjunction about the concept of time. Members of the Senate can hardly be said to be a legislature driven by time or for that matter a vision of what is good for the country. If it had, then the most important feature of such a vision is not to ‘waste time.’

The masyadong mababa is mere political bravado by the Senate to show up the House when it comes to considering the bills before them. It is politics as usual. There is nothing the citizenry can do. Did he think that the Senate bills will be ready in time, I asked the Senate assistant. At first he was reluctant to answer but when told that there will be no attribution, he answered that he did not think so. The only answer he could give was that the Senate would pass a different version from the House. In theory, that attitude cannot be faulted. But in reality, it feeds on a lack of cooperation endemic between the two Houses, even if delay would prejudice the interests of the country. After the Senate passes its own version, there will still be what amounts to a third legislature by the bicameral committee that will thresh out the differences of the two bills. Again that will take time.

I think this is more a matter of concern for a behavioral scientist. Senators and congressmen/women behave the way they do because of the structure of the institutions in which they work. The honorable members of the Senate cannot be hurried because that is not how they function. Having been used to this behavior of making the country wait, they are unable to understand the meaning of ‘wasting time’.

At best the passing of new tax bills will be a temporarily relief. That is why I am not putting my bets on the passage of the tax bills by our cumbersome ‘tricameral’ legislature. The problem will still be there. The Philippines will continue to be problematic as far as the credit rating agencies are concerned. With the quality of our legislature, credit rating agencies would much rather be on the safe side when it measures risks for its clients. They are paid to do that. The vision, the structure, the program, the willingness to be responsible is just not there. If it were, then we would have seen a different quality of lawmaking. It will not waste time.

* * *

At the recent dinner tendered by the Saudi Ambassador for visiting members of the Shura Council, the Arabs came in full regalia with their national costume. It may be insignificant but wearing their national costume was a way of telling us, non-Arabs, that we have to accept them on their own terms. I had to find a term through which I might understand the Shura (Consultative Council) and the closest to our political experience is probably our Congress because its members represent different regions and tribes (families). But the comparison also emphasizes the difference. The Shura is very different from our Congress because its members are not elected but selected by the king and his ministers.

It was interesting to be informed that HE Sheikh Dr. Saleh bin Abdullah bin Humaid, president of the Shura who led the visiting group was a doctor of theology. The job of the Shura is to align the teachings of the Koran with government. The Shura was established by King Fahd in 1992 and subsequently enlarged to 120 members. In his speech Dr. bin Humaid expressed sympathy for the victims of the typhoons as well as the Filipinos killed in the bombing of the American Consulate in Jeddah. No matter what our policy is on terrorism the fact is that with more than a million Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, they are potential victims. The Saudi group came straight from the AAPP (Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace) 5th assembly in Islamabad to Manila as a gesture of their solidarity with the Philippines. Dr. Humaid said emphatically that relations between the two countries will be strengthened in all fields - political as well as economic.

* * *

The big event for the Saudis is a conference on terrorism in February next year. Prince Ambassador Dr. Turki vin Mohammad bin Saud Al-Kabeer, assistant deputy foreign minister for political affairs said the international conference is Saudi’s response to demonstrate its concern on terrorism. Saudi Arabia is itself a victim of terrorism, he said. The conference will be a wide ranging discussion on terrorism by some 42 country-participants. By discussing terrorism more thoroughly countries affected will be more effective in their campaign against it. "We hope to show the relationship between terrorism, money laundering, weapons and drug smuggling," Prince Turki said.

* * *

Former US Ambassador to Laos Charles B. Saumon was recently in Manila to meet with Filipino colleagues. Among other things, I was surprised when he said he did not think countries in Asia would come together as a regional force any time soon. A veteran observer of the region, he thought there were too many cultural and political differences among the countries to make any regionalization possible. But that is also what they said of Europe before it became the European Union. He mentioned yet again Washington’s displeasure with President GMA’s move to withdraw its contingent in Iraq for the sake of Filipino worker Angelo de la Cruz but added that there more important issues on relations between the two countries. Foreign policy in the second Bush administration will continue as in the first – free trade, no protectionism and perhaps less but more effective military presence.

* * *

An Iranian business delegation headed by Iranian Deputy Minister and head of the Trade Development Organization Mojtaba Khosrowtaj was also here last week. Both Filipinos and Iranians said the meetings organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry were successful especially matchmaking between different businesses in the two countries. Khosrowtaj said that Manila expressed its readiness to expand oil, energy and petrochemical cooperation with Iran. The Philippine-Iranian Business Council was also organized during the visit.

* * *

E-mail: [email protected]