The D Spot

WTF This time WTF is for real…what is this with our Senate? Is our Senate a farce? A big fiasco? In the past, the Senate has become a roomful of clowns, entertainers, a venue for a lot of Pandora’s boxes and many more—other than what a real Senate should be. We have seen how the senators fought, argued (they could have debated, the way senators should, but did not), used foul and dirty language, and insulted each other on national (and global) television when they should have been having healthy  discussions for the interest of the nation.

Yesterday was the Senate’s last day in session, a day which supposedly should have been spent on a lot of important things for ratification and for reporting—two of which were the C5 and the ZTE-NBN deal. And yes, the Proposed Freedom of Information Act.

AND there was no quorum, AND the Senate had to close shop to resume only by the end of May after the elections.

WTF

Yesterday’s last session in the Senate, because of the absence (boycott is more apt) of a number of senators, important laws were bypassed and committee reports are now left pending, un-reported—IN THE AIR Archived in the meantime, among others, are:

-    Senate Committee of the Whole’s report on the C-5 controversy
-    Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s report on the national broadband network deal
-    Proposed Freedom of Information Act
-    Reproductive Health Bill
-    The Early Voting Bill
-    Philippine Immigration Act
-    Proposed Philippine Tax Academy
-    New Central Bank Act
-    Cybercrime Prevention Act
-    National Telecommunications Commission Reorganization Act
-    LPG Industry Regulation and Safety Act
-    An Act Defining and Penalizing the Crime of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance

It is the same Senate that spent a lot of time investigating (I mean screwing up) on the ZTE-NDN deal and demanding for the release of the committee’s report.

While the following senators were present in yesterday’s session—Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Gingo Honasan, Richrd Gordon, Mar Roxas, Noynoy Aquino, Jamby Madrigal, Kiko Pangilinan, Senate Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Migs Zubiri, the following were absent (boycotted)—Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Manny Villar, Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Edgardo Angara, Manuel Lapid, Ramon Revlla, Jr., and Miriam Defensor Santiago. Panfilo Lacson has fled the country, escaping from the Dacer-Coribito charges while Antonio Trillanes IV remains in jail, thus he has no voting power.

This was seen by Enrile as an apparent move by Villar and his supporters to prevent the disposition on the C-5 controversy that was supposed to be tackled in the last working date of the Senate. This report could have been a basis for the voting population in making an informative decision.

Is the Senate a venue for any of our senators to serve their personal motives? For whatever will suit and favor them? What did we vote our senators for? To draft legislation and create policies, of course, as their most primary task. Now, why do they, in their last working day renege on their responsibilities? Sarili muna has been the norm rather than the default.

For another, why flee before the Senate closes? Oh well, it is obvious.

YET, they have the guts to run as the next president of the land, as the next vice president, run for reelection (am not sure if there is one among them running for a lower position in the government just like you know who).

It is SAD! It is sickening! It is tiring. Our senators have a huge responsibility to the Filipino people—and they have to be made accountable for their misbehavior. We censure our children to do good in school, to be empathic, to follow the rules, and to be law abiding citizens. It seems like there is very little left for our children to emulate. What example do they get—when our leaders, from the highest in the land to them who walk the halls of the Senate do not behave the way they should. Their integrity is tarnished by the day, it is tarnished now more than ever.

Well, we voted for them—this is the glaring truth. This time, let us vote intelligently—know the issues, listen to the candidates, ask questions, discern the truth, and know our options before finally casting that important one vote.

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