The latest “word war” between Jamby Madrigal and Pia Cayetano — labeled “brats” by some of their colleagues — would be amusing were it not for the underlying seriousness of the issue: absenteeism in the Senate. While the “catfights” may stem from mutual personal dislike between the two lady senators, Jamby’s proposal to have absentee senators arrested certainly struck a chord among Filipinos who are starting to feel that their elected public servants are worse than truant schoolchildren.
Absenteeism and the difficulty of mustering a quorum have been long-standing problems in the Senate. Senator Miriam Santiago already introduced rules to “punish” chronic absenteeism and habitual tardiness among her colleagues by taking the absence as a waiver of the right to debate the pros and cons of a bill. Unfortunately, this could result in poorly crafted laws, with no one present to discuss and interpellate the proposed legislation and see through its loopholes if any.
Passing bills require diligent paperwork and attendance during sessions to deliberate a proposed law that is supposed to have national impact. What’s worse is when the author of the bill itself is absent and there is no one to satisfactorily discuss the proposal. But when there’s “lights, camera, action!” — more often than not, senators have 100 percent attendance.
It’s amazing that this is happening in the Senate because normally, absenteeism and lack of quorum is associated with Congress since representatives are usually in some meeting or another. Of course, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is old enough (no pun intended) to recall that senators have been arrested during the time of presidents Quirino, Magsaysay, Macapagal and even Marcos because their absences have been detrimental to the work in the Senate. Besides, there’s supposed to be a provision in the Senate rules saying members could be arrested.
As Enrile pointed out, there must be discipline among senators since their absence could delay legislation and disrupt the legislative function of the Upper House. The Senate’s record in passing bills has not been that great either, and no amount of excuses about “quality” being better than “quantity” can dispel the perception that a lot of time is being wasted on hearings and investigations that lead to nowhere.
With the elections just around the corner, expect more episodes where a committee chair will find it futile to get enough warm bodies to constitute a quorum because many of them will be busy going around the country in a poorly disguised attempt at early electioneering. While Congressmen are also guilty of the same “sins” of absenteeism and early campaigning, at least they have the convenient excuse of needing to consult their constituents about problems in their respective districts. Senators on the other hand cannot really use the same alibi.
But then again, senators also have an undue advantage over their colleagues in Congress. Under the law, they are allowed two consecutive six-year terms, with the option to run after three years or during midterm elections for higher office — plus the advantage of getting back their old seats if they lose. Among those who can run for president or vice president — and still take back their Senate seat should they lose — are Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero, Manny Villar, Ping Lacson and Kiko Pangilinan (who is reportedly eyeing the vice presidency even as an independent candidate).
It can be recalled that Lito Lapid tried to unseat Jojo Binay as Makati mayor, despite knowing that he didn’t stand a Chinaman’s chance of winning. Of course, Lapid suffered an embarrassing defeat but what the heck, he got his old Senate post so no harm done there — except to Filipinos who were deprived of the opportunity to see Senator Lapid at work. But then again, now you see him, now you don’t.
There have also been instances where a senator with an unexpired term ran for another position and won, thus leaving a vacancy in the Senate — which means lost hours of work and additional expenses if a special election is held to fill in the vacant position.
Perhaps it makes sense now to craft a new law wherein senators who decide to run for another office will not be allowed to get back their old seats if they lose. Just imagine, these legislators will be going around the country, busy with so many things other than doing their jobs. Senators are not paid taxpayers’ money to go around campaigning for almost half of their term. They were elected to do a particular job — and that is to legislate and craft laws especially those that have national significance and have an impact on the lives of Filipinos.
Even if the salary is “low,” they have to put up with such an unfortunate fact because they chose to become senators, and people naturally expect them to do their work. It’s like in private corporations where an employer hires an accountant to look after the books. Naturally, an accountant is expected to be closeted mostly in his office crunching numbers and not go out three times a day socializing and making “beso-beso” and “chika-chika” with other people.
The latest outburst of Jamby Madrigal against Pia Cayetano has opened up a Pandora’s Box about the ills in the Senate, and it is simply not fair for senators to have their cake and eat it, too, especially if the cake is paid for by the Filipino people. Perhaps it’s time for Congress to seriously look at Constitutional amendments by starting in their own backyard. Our senators should realize that spending time and money unwisely deprives a large number of hungry Filipinos and certainly, you can’t always “feed them cake.”
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