EDITORIAL - Where's the legislation?

If the smoke ever clears in the battle between Senators Panfilo Lacson and Jinggoy Estrada, will any piece of legislation come out of it? Though the crimes alleged by the two senators are serious, both camps are reluctant to initiate the prosecution of anyone. What was the purpose of all those speeches, which enjoy parliamentary immunity from lawsuits? Senators should tighten the rules on the exercise of their privileges.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, for her part, should not let the issues she raised against premature campaigning go the same way. Though her specific target looks like her nemesis Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who is running for vice president under the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD, Santiago raised valid questions about the use of taxpayers’ money for information that the public can do without. Her crusade against premature campaigning has been largely futile. But while Santiago may fail to stop anyone from raising his national profile long before the official start of an election campaign, she can initiate legislation to regulate expenditures for information that tend to glorify personalities rather than the services offered by executive agencies.

In the case of the Lacson-Estrada feud, what pieces of legislation might come out of it? Since Senator Estrada has lambasted Lacson for wiretapping, the former president’s son could initiate efforts to improve oversight in the use of intelligence funds for electronic surveillance, which can be legal, and other forms of intelligence gathering. This is useful especially in the light of suspicions that Deputy National Security Adviser Luis Singson might have used government resources to place his estranged common-law wife under surveillance. It is not impossible to bring a measure of accountability in intelligence gathering activities.

There must be some piece of legislation that Lacson can come up with as a result of his revelations on what he describes as the true nature of Joseph Estrada and his son Jinggoy. Congress has two principal functions: legislation and oversight. If a senator wants to use the Senate floor to clear his name before the court of public opinion, he can do so, but only if it is in aid of legislation.