Time for the Senate to go?

The clamor for the abolition of the Senate is getting louder. And not only is it coming from an increasing number of directions, the reasons underpinning the clamor are getting to be more plausible.

To be sure, many of the reasons are rooted in political interest. But sometimes, even selfish motives appear to be the lesser of two evils if the object of vilification does nothing to defend itself or, worse, encourages its own destruction.

There used to be a time when the Senate was the more honorable chamber in our bicameral legislature. Prior to the debauchery of Philippine politics by the dictator Marcos, the Senate all too often was the springboard for the presidency.

It was here where future presidents cut their teeth. It was here where they were assayed and tested. And even when only one of its members had to become president, it could never be said that the rest were any less qualified. Indeed, almost every senator was a presidential timber.

There also used to be a time when Filipinos eagerly awaited a yearly listing by the Philippine Free Press of what it called the 10 Most Outstanding Senators. Not only is there no such listing now, it is also very doubtful if it would be as eagerly awaited if there was one.

Sadly, it is not because Filipinos do not care anymore about the Senate and the senators. But by their own hands, the senators and the Senate brought themselves to the point of their own painful irrelevancy.

For decades since martial law, the worth of senators as potential presidents and as legislators has plummeted. One can perhaps count with the fingers any really significant piece of legislation that the Senate has passed in years.

But what they lack in substance and direction, the senators more than make up with their penchant for grandstanding. Senators spend more time investigating matters that are often left cold after they have been squeezed of their last drop of publicity value.

The state of mediocrity in the Senate is appalling. One senator even proudly boasts of his lack of ability to speak the English language, on the mistaken notion that it is more nationalistic or patriotic to be unable to do so.

If all that the Senate can do now is bully and humiliate its guests during useless public hearings, largely on its jealous insistence on constitutional protection as a co-equal in government, then the clamor for its abolition cannot but only get louder.

Of course, I am still against constitutional changes, especially if the only objective is to switch from a presidential system of government to a unicameral parliamentary one. I continue to believe that it is not the form of government that is root cause of our problems.

The root cause of our problems is the attitude of most of our leaders. And nothing best elucidates this than the attitude of most of our senators. They think respect comes automatically with their offices. They do not know they have to work for it in accordance with their mandates.

Unfortunately, such attitudes have become so pervasive they have given the Filipinos the mistaken notion that this has become the norm in public governance, that mediocrity is no longer a stumbling block in the ascendancy to power.

Yet, however twisted and perverse this notion may be, a Third World country like the Philippines may actually be able to live with it at certain levels of the bureaucracy. But for God's sake not in such an august body as the Senate.