Paralysis

Watching the two chambers of Congress in action leaves you with a deep sense of national paralysis.

At the Senate last week, the most memorable exchange was over the pronunciation of "teeth" and who was the greater liar. Meanwhile, at the House of Representatives, congressmen fought over the public airing of controversial tapes even as they discussed how to go about their probe, until the chief of the National Bureau of Investigation asked a sensible question: Which tape exactly were they talking about?

This week opens with more uncertainty as the various political soap operas unfold without direction. The nation cannot afford to be in a state of perpetual distraction, lurching from one scandal to the next.

This week we must shake off our paralysis.

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We know how widespread jueteng operations are, and we know government officials are on the take. Accusations have been hurled against three presidential relatives and several public officials. It’s time to start a formal criminal investigation so that the accused can be indicted, we will all know exactly what they are being charged with and the evidence can be weighed.

The government must make up its mind on its gambling policy when it comes to jueteng and other illegal numbers games that are hugely popular among the masses. Senators, who initiated the latest jueteng probe, must spend the break before the opening of Congress discussing what laws or amendments can emerge out of their inquiry, which is supposed to be in aid of legislation. They’ve had their live TV coverage; now it’s time to go to back to the boring task of crafting laws.

If Archbishop Oscar Cruz has more witnesses lined up, he can call a press conference every day for every witness, but he should also urge each witness to file formal complaints against all the accused individuals. Then formal prosecution can start, and if any case reaches the courts, arrest warrants can be issued.

Everyone claiming to have an "original" or "master tape" of an alleged wiretapped conversation implicating President Arroyo in poll fraud should get together with a government representative to decide which tape is the real thing, then have it authenticated by a credible third party. They can call in United Nations peacekeepers to guard the tape if they want.

While waiting for this authentication, congressmen — if they really want to work when the House is not in session — should draw up legislation that will discourage electronic eavesdropping and uphold every citizen’s constitutional right to privacy of communication. Stopping wiretapping is impossible in this age, but eavesdroppers can be discouraged through stiffer penalties.

Opposition congressmen who can’t wait for authentication of the tape can impeach the President. It’s not going to happen unless the administration itself encourages it, but the opposition can always try.

Meanwhile, both chambers of Congress should prepare legislation that will modernize our electoral system and reduce opportunities for cheating.

Samuel Ong, Fortunato Abat and the politicians and various crackpots behind them can stop dreaming of people power. It’s not going to happen, especially not during the typhoon season.

President Arroyo cannot go on with business as usual. She can’t make missing elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano disappear for good, and one of them will have to talk soon about the mysterious tapes.

Surviving this crisis will require personal sacrifices on the part of the President. Even if she survives, her credibility to govern has been seriously impaired, and the nation will suffer the consequences. She must launch an aggressive campaign to implement reforms that will discourage corruption and the abuse of power, modernize the electoral system and strengthen the rule of law.

We like to say that what doesn’t kill us should make us strong. Perhaps some good can come out of this crisis. But first we have to end national paralysis.

We have a problem. We have many problems. Dealing with them will require going beyond hurling insults over the pronunciation of "teeth."

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NO REGULATORY POWERS: In another form of paralysis, the head of the National Book Development Board (NBDB) called to clarify that his office has no regulatory powers over the quality of textbooks and cannot give a seal of approval.

Dennis Gonzalez of the NBDB said the board referred for review only three of 24 textbooks produced by Phoenix Publishing that Antonio Calipjo Go found to be filled with errors. All 24 textbooks were written by teachers in private schools for use in private schools, whose standards are supposed to be higher than public schools. As Go pointed out, "you can now be very sure that Philippine education is in very bad shape."

The NBDB was created in 1995 through the Book Publishing Industry Development Act or Republic Act 8047. It was meant to serve as a policy-making and planning body, not a regulatory agency, Gonzalez said. Initially under the Office of the President, it was placed under the administrative supervision of the Department of Education (DepEd) in 2003.

Gonzalez said no law has been passed requiring publishing houses to submit textbooks to the government for review because it might be construed as censorship.

Publishing houses may submit a textbook to the NBDB’s textbook review service for evaluation but must pay P20,000, because the board will have to refer the book to experts outside the NBDB who will be compensated for their work.

In the case of the 24 textbooks reviewed by Go, the NBDB referred two — Harnessing English Arts Today (Grade 5) and Exploring Life Through World Literature (for 4th year high school) — to the English department of the Ateneo de Manila School of Humanities. The verdict: the two books were "generally good but need minor improvements," and the errors were "not enough" to call them "very defective," Gonzalez said.

A third textbook, Simply Science (for Grade 3), was referred by the NBDB to the University of the Philippines National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development. The book was found to be "of poor quality," Gonzalez said.

DepEd evaluates textbooks for use in public schools. If the NBDB will be turned into a regulatory agency for textbooks in all schools, it will need a bigger budget. Gonzalez said the board, whose office is in UP Diliman, has a budget of only P18 million a year and has a staff of 35.