EDITORIAL - Cushy job

There ought to be a law. Congressmen are allocated P70 million a year as pork barrel, on top of their regular pay, allowances and benefits. The least that congressmen can give back to their employer, the Filipino taxpayer, is to work on legislation in between the many lengthy congressional breaks throughout the year.

In many government offices, there are so-called “15-30” employees: people who are seen only during payday on the 15th and 30th of every month, to collect their salary. Negros Occidental Rep. Julio Ledesma, a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, beats them all. Ledesma, said to be the third richest member of the House of Representatives, has attended sessions of the 14th Congress for only a handful of days over the past two and a half years.

Ledesma, better known as the husband of actress Assunta d’Rossi, and best remembered for the controversial kidnapping of his two children eight years ago, even wants to collect his pay. Reports said that during the recent Christmas break, Ledesma asked the House for his bonus, allowances and 13th month pay. Ledesma failed to get the money because there was no one to process his request.

Speaker Prospero Nograles reportedly told Ledesma to attend at least two of the remaining session days starting next week if he wanted to get paid. Ledesma has not been seen at the House since attending the joint opening session last July, when he listened to President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address. Beyond utilizing his pork barrel and collecting his pay, Ledesma seems to have no idea of what he was elected to do. Reached for comment yesterday, he defended his egregious absenteeism, saying physical presence at the session hall did not mean he was not working.

If Ledesma ever worked on legislation at all, the Speaker and their colleagues were unaware of it. Ledesma’s long absence had fueled rumors that he had left the country or was seriously ill. His performance — or lack of it — should give lawmakers an idea of why the House keeps getting abysmal ratings in surveys on government agencies. House members should be reminded that being a lawmaker requires crafting laws. And lawmakers should find a way of enforcing a no-work, no-pay rule for its irresponsible members.