EDITORIAL — Diminished

Amid vote rigging and corruption scandals hounding the administration, the impartiality and integrity of the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice have fallen under a cloud of doubt. This is the main reason why people depend on the Senate to dig up information that cannot be expected to be extracted by the Ombudsman or the DOJ from administration officials.

With so many potentially anomalous deals surfacing, the Senate has its hands full, and its exercise of its oversight functions is threatening to overwhelm its task of legislation. Even as it slakes the nation’s thirst for truth, the Senate must not overlook its principal mandate of crafting laws. At the same time, it must start imposing discipline in legislative affairs, from congressional inquiries to lawmaking and confirmation of appointments.

The spectacle of temper tantrums and uncivilized shouting matches among lawmakers can only diminish Congress, which is already suffering from an image problem. Malacañang likes to paint ongoing Senate investigations as nothing but political posturing for 2010. The observation is valid, but it is no excuse to stop the Senate from its efforts to ferret out the truth about government wrongdoing amid brazen executive stonewalling and obstruction of justice.

The cause of truth, however, is undermined by the antics of certain senators. They attend inquiries unprepared, dropping in late and then repeating the same questions at the end of a long day. They throw tantrums and insult resource persons. They can’t tell the difference between a Senate inquiry and a police or judicial investigation. They are careless about resource persons; businessman Leo San Miguel is only the latest in a growing list of compromised witnesses.

The problem is evident even in deliberations by the Commission on Appointments, where Sen. Jamby Madrigal recently invoked Section 20 and suspended the confirmation of 24 military officers, a Cabinet member and an election commissioner to spite her CA colleagues. Such antics can only fuel suggestions that certain lawmakers need to be put on a leash, and it must be a short one. In the ongoing political turbulence, democratic institutions including the legislature must emerge stronger instead of joining the descent into chaos.