A Senate that lost its credibility and relevance

The Senate is mandated by the Constitution to be the nation’s proverbial cooling chamber – a body of statesmen tasked to temper hot political issues with wisdom, restraint and sober judgment. It exists to scrutinize legislation, safeguard democratic institutions and hold power accountable. Senators are supposed to rise above factionalism and act as custodians of national interest.

This mandate has been trashed by the current Senate.

The Senate of today is no longer a chamber of statesmen but rather a theater of vanity, opportunism and transactional politics. Its rapid loss of credibility stems from senators betraying the very purpose of their office. What was meant to be a democratic institution has become a platform for political ambition, dynastic survival, financial interests and influence peddling. Most senators have become political merchants disguised as statesmen.

Many senators no longer legislate according to facts, constitutional duty or national interest. They legislate according to political alliances, vendettas, donor interests and personal survival. Principles are negotiable. Patriotism is situational.

As my friend Ronald Llamas observed with brutal accuracy, “each senator acts as his own republic.” True.

Nothing exemplifies this decay more succinctly than former Senate president Chiz Escudero’s handling of the impeachment proceedings involving VP Sara Duterte. The ploy he pulled off was not mere political maneuvering, it was constitutional betrayal. By invoking the supposed ambiguity of the word “forthwith” to delay the impeachment process, Escudero hijacked the Constitution’s intent just to insulate the VP.

The Constitution is not a rubber band that can be twisted according to personal loyalties. It is the architecture of our democratic order. Yet, Escudero  treated it like a procedural obstacle to be manipulated for tactical advantage. Escudero’s maneuver was moral bankruptcy disguised as legal sophistication. It reinforced the belief that many senators no longer serve the republic. They serve their political patron and, by extension, themselves.

And then came the coup of 13 senators who ousted Senate president Tito Sotto and replaced him with Alan Peter Cayetano. The objective was obvious – to influence the impeachment proceedings to tilt the process to VP Sara’s favor. The coup exposed who among the senators treat the Senate not as an independent democratic institution, but as a weapon for political survival. True colors were revealed.

As if these sinister machinations were not enough, the 13 senators, led by SP Cayetano, pulled off what many saw as an obvious staged siege to shield Sen. Bato dela Rosa from being served an ICC arrest warrant. Let that sink in: senators – supposedly the nation’s senior statesmen – seemingly conspired to obstruct justice for a man accused of mass murder and too cowardly to face the consequences. The ploy worked. Dela Rosa slipped away. But it left a bad taste in the mouth. We now see clearly the rot in certain senators.

The Senate in its present form has become less a guardian of democratic accountability and more an obstruction to it. They are a personification of a putrefied political system.

Senatorial traits of today

Nothing captures the vulgarity and hypocrisy of today’s political class more vividly than how they and their family members carry themselves in public.

They bully citizens on the road with wang-wangs and escorts with brazen entitlement; they flaunt luxury bags, diamond rings and their tacky lifestyle on social media – a grotesque insult to struggling Filipinos; they use their positions to secure multi-billion government contracts for family members.

They preach God’s word and the sanctity of the law while embroiled in cases of multi-billion corruption scams, concubinage and extrajudicial killings. They pray loudly and kneel before cameras while stabbing their brother in the back. They invoke patriotism while openly putting China’s interests ahead of those of the Philippines. The hypocrisy is staggering.

Many senators today are products of corrupt dynasties and celebrity politics. Many are intellectually unqualified – and it shows in their imbecilic privilege speeches. Senate hearings increasingly resemble noontime variety shows filled with grandstanding and theatrics meant to go viral. Statesmanship and dignity have evaporated, replaced by shameless politicking and desperate attempts to ingratiate themselves to Sara Duterte.

The Senate’s loss of credibility is entirely self-inflicted – a direct result of their bad behavior and antics.

Why should we fund them?

The question that must finally be asked is – why should the Filipino taxpayer  continue paying for an institution that increasingly serves less as a pillar of democracy and more as a sanctuary for opportunists, dynastic greed and naked political interest? They have become a waste of public funds.

Democratic reform must go beyond replacing personalities in every election cycle. True reform is fundamentally restructuring the legislature itself. In short, to abolish the Senate and the bicameral system.

The notion that a bicameral system automatically means stronger checks and balances is false. We know that by experience. What the country has today is not a healthy democratic system but a politicized patronage machine where elections merely recycle dynasties, unqualified candidates and political opportunists.

A unicameral parliamentary system like those in Singapore, Sweden and Denmark deserves serious consideration. Unlike the current presidential system that breeds gridlock, personality cults and duplication, a parliamentary structure could deliver clearer mandates, stronger party accountability and faster governance while forcing politicians to organize around platforms instead of dynasties and patrons.

This must be accompanied by true election reform. Dynasties must be genuinely dismantled and outlawed. Campaign finance transparency must become absolute. Public procurement systems must be radically digitized. Political parties must be institutionalized so politicians cannot flip flop.

Democratic institutions must become leaner, cleaner and impossible to capture. Because institutions that no longer serve the republic become a burden to it.

The Senate, with its putrid rot, has reached that point.

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E-mail: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aj_masigan