Shortcuts

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Shortcuts
Sunday, 03 09, 2003

The easiest shortcut in crafting a proposed bill is to copy an existing bill already filed. It goes without saying that you ask your colleague who had previously authored the bill for his permission to copy it. This matter of parliamentary courtesy appears to have been disregarded by the author of Senate Bill 2504, which was filed last Feb. 26. We compared Senate Bill 2504 with House Bill 5606 of Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., which was filed last Jan. 20. Andaya’s was copied to the last comma.

Andaya is reported to be “furious and perplexed on the duplicity” of the author of the Senate bill, who copied the House bill without his permission, and who went to town claiming it to be his original idea to put a cap on the public debt in ensuring long-term financial sustainability through fiscal discipline. In the academe, we call that plagiarism, and the plagiarist soon finds himself ostracized. But not in Congress. The plagiarist lawmaker gets the credit – if he has a high-powered and well connected PR outfit. They call that “projection” or “visibility” in Congress.

000 --- 000

In its rush to approve House Bill 5238 on the General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2003, the Senate may have committed a monumental blunder: It approved the bill on third reading, at 4:58 a.m. of March 6, without conducting a normal voting; worse, there were only six senators, six members short of the quorum to do business on a matter of far-reaching importance.

The Constitution is clear: Section 26(2), Article VI requires nominal voting during the third reading, i.e., upon the last reading of a bill, the vote thereon shall be taken, and the ayes and nays entered in the Journal. The Senate can still correct this. It can proceed to have House Bill 5238 approved tomorrow, on third reading, by nominal voting, where a quorum of at least 12 is present.

000 --- 000

Rep. Rolex Suplico of Iloilo is correct in insisting that the House of Representatives should have proceeded to approve the bicameral conference committee report on the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act, using only as basis for deliberation by the entire House the signed copy of such report, and not merely the faxed copy from the Philippine Plaza where the bi-cam was conducted. While a fax transmittal may be acceptable as basis for deliberations, this shortcut should not be resorted to in the case of controversial bills such as the AMLA, where accusations of the presence of unaccountable but high-powered intervenors abound. What if the faxed copy came from the BSP where AGILE holds sway? The House should have been extra-careful. After all, it still had nine days to the marked deadline given by the FATF. In short, there should be no shortcuts. Hushing things could breed more problems.

000 --- 000

A happy compromise of the conflicting versions of Sen. Ed Angara and Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, respectively, on how to improve the compensation of members of the Judiciary and their personnel has been arrived at. When the Senate resumes sessions tomorrow, the compromise version mandating increases will be in the calendar. Now, my classmate RTC Judge Pol Bruselas of Quezon City will certainly be enticed to stay on, and move up the judicial hierarchy, under a compensation scheme that assures him a pay competitive to what his classmates in private practice earn. Ramon Reyes and those in the Federation of Court Employees Associations will also get what they have been fighting for – equal treatment. The shortcut to the passage of the measure, by way of a substitute bill crafted by Angara, Villar and Pangilinan, with Andaya and DBM Secretary Emilia Boncodin, paved the way for this compromise.

000 --- 000

A cut in the budget as a belt-tightening measure in a season of scarcity is all right, but not when the cut kills a program that is doing well. We refer to the P20-million cut in the budget for the Judiciary under the General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2003, intended for the Legal Aid Program administered by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. This IBP program is a “baby” of Angara, started when he was IBP president. It would do well to have this allocation restored during the bicameral conference committee deliberations. IBP President Teofilo Pilando, Jr. is appealing to the honorable members of Congress, for them to think of the millions who need free legal assistance.

000 --- 000

How can a supplier of a particular technology get assurance he will corner the multi-million market for it? Simple. Just get the specifications for that technology defined in the law itself. This appears to be what Republic Act 8436 on poll modernization did. It preferred a particular technology for vote counting, which was eventually proved during its pilot test in the ARMM elections to be a lemon, not suitable for local conditions. But the Comelec is unfortunately stuck with that technology, because the law says so. It is time Congress amends Republic Act 8436, to open the field of choice to other technologies.

000 --- 000

The plight of the 1,200 employees of the Light Railway Transit Authority – the victims of illegal dismissal about whom we wrote several columns ago – is nowhere near any solution. LRTA Administrator Cruz is reportedly giving the dismissed employees the run-around, despite the release to him by Boncodin of the initial amount of P65 million out of the total P271 million budgeted for the purpose. Republic Act 6713, with its accompanying criminal sanctions for inaction, is about to be invoked by the dismissed employees against Cruz.


For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph

The Daily Tribune © 2003