Mind boggling

Two legislative chambers in the land mandate the conduct of hearings IN AID OF LEGISLATION. That’s more than sunlight clear. Undoubtedly, that is not what occurred in the Lower House.

As one keen observer of the two Chambers’ doings and undoings, the qualitative differences between them are too obvious not to escape one’s attention, especially for those of us who, despite our various professional, business and family activities, are concerned with the governance and economic progress of our country and people. We just don’t pray for blessings from above but we do our part.

Because most of us subscribe to the general belief that “Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa atin ang gawa.” (Colloquially, God helps those who help themselves.)

I said qualitative not quantitative because at the House, we have about 300 money lords versus 24 in the Upper Chamber. You may ask why I call them money lords. It’s simply because they control the spending of one thousand peso bills regardless of whether it would contribute to lessening the financial maladies of Juan and Juana dela Cruz.

What we hear and see indicate the current abusive leaders’ characters and attitudes as government officials entrusted with power and authority. They reflect nothing but what 1950s Senate President Jose Avelino bragged then, expressing his resentment over an investigation into an official’s money-making activities, “What are we in power for.”

Well, the stark reality is that a vulnerable majority of voters elected them in exchange for a couple of crisp thousand peso bills dished out by thieves in extravagant haberdashery. The dirty money gave the uneducated and equally corrupt men’s and women’s families living a harsh financially challenging life a couple of days of survival.

The Bridge and many Filipinos may be wrong but there’s no doubt that about a dozen members of the QuadComm engaged in persecution and slander, if not maligned the resource persons who were hoodwinked into appearing at the committee hearings. Many were even cited in contempt for giving answers not pleasing to the panel. They were not, for all intents and purposes, hearings conducted in aid of legislation.

This might be speculation but it is not remote that aside from grandstanding and the free multimedia exposure, money may have significantly played a role, as SP Avelino added: “Why should we pretend to be saints when we are not. We are not angels. When we die, we will all go to hell.”

At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, despite the animosity between the chair Imee Marcos and Pres. Bongbong Marcos, the former proceeded with the inquiry. My sense was that, clearly, the committee was trying to seek the truth in the hasty surrender of FPRRD to a foreign power. The notable resource persons mostly from the government side were DoJ Secretary Crispin Remulla, PNP General Nicholas Torre III, and Special Envoy Markus Lacanilao.

From outside, we saw and heard a private lawyer and former CJ Associate Justice Adolf Azcuna whom we believed presented an objective legal response to questions propounded by the chair, Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, and Sen. Bato dela Rosa.

It was nothing but obvious — we were made to swallow evasive answers and blatant lies, especially coming from Mr. Lacanilao.

The government connivance, complicity and/or syndication with a foreign power, the denial of due process to a compatriot is mind boggling, indeed. We will continue with this, further, in time.

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