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 Is the Philippine Congress on the side of the Filipino people for a corruption-free government? Photo courtesy of www.filipinoscribbles. wordpress.com When the 15th Congress convenes on July 26, top of the agenda will be the election of the Senate President and the Speaker of the House. This is done in the morning in readiness for the State of the Nation Address (SONA) by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
But with only days to go, none of the myriad political parties is commanding a parliamentary majority to ascertain victory in this congressional election. Clearly, Aquino’s landslide presidential victory wasn’t enough to pull a major force for his Liberal Party (LP).
As columnist Amado Doronila opines, this scenario gives a dent on the delivery of Aquino’s promises to free Filipinos from poverty and corruption.
“The tidal wave that swept (Aquino) to the Philippine presidency in the May elections stopped at the floodgates of Congress…the President finds himself stymied by the lack of parliamentary majorities to help pass legislation that would translate his agenda of political and economic renewal into action,” Doronila argued in a recent piece published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon Aquino installed the multiparty system in the 1987 Freedom Constitution supposedly as a safeguard against a new dictatorship following the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
House
In the House, Aquino is trying to form a new coalition with the LP as the core, as he expects massive defections to the party. LP is one of the minor parties in the new House, with only 45 congressmen elected in the recent elections.
If history is any guide, House members will swing to the party of the new president to ensure they receive their “pork barrel” from Malacañang Palace. The pork barrel is the PhP 70 million (USD 1.5 million) annual Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocation for each representative. Senators also get a PhP 200 million (USD 4.3 million) PDAF each annually.
“They support the political party of the winning president either as new members or as coalition partners. Ideological considerations or public service - which are nil in most politicians - have nothing to do with this traditional partnership but merely politics of convenience,” says University of the Philippines-based Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPeg).
When Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo rose to the presidency in 2001, her Lakas party formed a coalition with two others, Kampi and the Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD). In an instant, her allies in the House grew exponentially from a mere 17 to 150.
When Fidel Ramos was leader, his Lakas party had 173 members in the House but when his successor Joseph Estrada took over, Lakas membership dropped dramatically by 90 per cent to 17.
And like history repeating itself, the new House now sees Arroyo’s majority coalition, Lakas-Kampi-CMD hurting each day through defections.
Thus, the LP is confident it gets enough votes to clinch the speakership. “By our last assessment, we do not see any major problem preventing the Liberal Party from securing the minimum number of votes to elect a speaker,” says LP stalwart and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.
LP is fielding Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte for Speaker, claiming it now has the commitment of 150 congressmen, more than the 143 needed in the 287-member House.
But Doronila has argued that it is a fragile basis for majority since it is based simply on the shifting sands of political loyalties bought by the pork barrel.
Senate
President Aquino’s LP also comes as a minority block in the new Senate roster with only four senators as members -- Senators Francisco Pangilinan, Franklin Drilon, Teofisto Guingona III and Ralph Recto.
Early this month, Pangilinan launched his bid for Senate President with Aquino’s blessings and that of party elders.
Senator Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party (NP) is also up to grab anew the Senate presidency. He also has three party-mates in the Senate – Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano and Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
But observers say that on a two-party basis, there is no face-off between the pre-martial law parties, LP and NP, as none of these two has the numbers (13) to win the Senate presidency.
They therefore need swing votes from a third bloc led by Sen. Edgardo Angara.
“Angara, who was Senate President during the Ramos administration, has not expressed interest in the Senate presidency, although he has the most number among the three blocs and his support has been sought by both Pangilinan and Villar. He is playing his cards shrewdly,” Doronila says.
But Angara has warned that Pangilinan is too closely identified with President Aquino. “If you have a House of Representatives and Senate controlled by the President, where is independence?” Angara asks, adding that the nation needed an “independent reformist” Senate.
“While Mr. Aquino still enjoys immense public goodwill stemming from his landslide election, he critically needs a Senate leadership that is not too closely identified with him but is credible in upholding the independence of the Senate,” says Doronila.
He adds: “The President needs to push his legislative agenda of reform within his first hundred days. If this opportunity for launching legislative initiatives is squandered in conflicts with the Senate over the leadership issue, this political capital can dissipate quickly.”
Representation
Whether or not the Senate and the House of Representatives are on the side of President Aquino, the question is whether Congress is on the side of the Filipino people. Congress, along with the Judiciary is co-equal to the Executive under the Constitution.
In theory, the Congress is composed of the “people’s representatives”. Yet the reality is it is dominated by wealthy clans.
The House of Representatives now has at least 130 seats or 60 percent of the regular membership. Traditional politicians have also used the party-list system, which is constitutionally reserved for the marginalized sectors - to gain additional seats in the lower House.
“While more than 70 percent of our people are poor, more than 80 percent of the elected representatives in Congress and presidency belong to the exclusive multimillionaires’ club, based on their own declared assets and liabilities,” says CenPeg.
“No matter how much they pretend to come from the ranks of the poor, or to project themselves as maka-masa (one with the masses) ... one can see how they have gained from their positions of political power,” it adds.
Pork barrel
Observers claim, many lawmakers make their gains and excesses through the multimillion-peso pork barrel, which is for wholly discretionary spending.
It is widely seen as an old style fiscal instrument still employed in the budget that helps to foster continuing graft and corruption.
As the name suggests, the PDAF is intended for priority development projects such as clean water, education and health care, and poverty alleviation. However, many legislators end up spending their allocations on trivial projects like waiting sheds or basketball courts.
Trivial or worthy, the use of pork barrel funds allows ample opportunities to defraud the state by irregular contracting procedures; by inflating prices – or by agreeing and securing kick-backs – where the winning contractor will illegally return a percentage of the funds paid out.
Belmonte is vowing to establish transparency in the use of pork barrel allocations of congressmen. The 73-year-old Belmonte served as Speaker in the 11th Congress.
But he has opposed proposals to slash pork funds to help address the government's P340-billion deficit.
“Ang kailangan is transparency sa paggamit, at i-limit ang uses for which it can be employed (What we need is transparency in its use and to limit the use for which it can be employed),” says Belmonte, citing reports that some lawmakers funnel their pork barrel funds to foundations run by their own family members.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, likely the next minority leader, in a press statement, says there is no need to provide a menu for the utilization of the PDAF “because ever since there has been a restricted menu for its availment and implementation.” Unfortunately, it is something that has not been followed.
With such a practice, CenPeg says the staying power of the old, feudal politics as symbolized by political clans will make basic reforms in the country’s social and economic conditions highly remote.
“Token reforms” may be expected from the new Congress. But CenPeg adds: “The large majority will be left to fend for themselves.” Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project
(The author is a senior correspondent of the GMA Network, Inc. )
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What's wrong with these photos (apart from the blocked out bits)? 
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