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'':ONSOLIDATION would have
o";been the usual route after
successful electoral campaign
ut the victory of the regional
lnP and national PDP has been
rogt-lived, with the disarray in
re House of Representatives and
r the selectign ofthe Speaker for
re 18th Congress. Surely, the last
:gular session of fie 17th Con-
ress under Speaker Gibria Ma-
lpagal Anoyo is aheady a hard
:t to follow what with a historic
:cord ofaccomplishments in just
ne single session. Some would
onder the move made just a few
ays before the 2018 SONA. Had
reaker Bebot Alvarez not bden
:moved, would the 17th Con-
'ess have ended on such .a high
ote?With hindsigh! the removal
:rved well the legislative agenda
I President Rodrigo Dute(e and
rve unique support in policy
rrmulation and adoption when
came to dealing with inflation
rd basic commodities like rice;
)art from the push for revbnuq
rhancement measures and social
:oteciion legislation.
Congress is a deliberative
rdy. Much of the work is done
a consensus and compio-
ise. Decision-making is inher-
rtly plenary Nothing is decided
TUESDAY Juty 16,201e
ZILCH
r0uRDfs
TIQUIA
qpon unless a vote is made in
plenary President Rodrigo Duterte
can only endorse but the final de-
cision will still be the votes of304
members in the people's chamber
and that of 24 members in the
Senate. The House is composed
of 243 district representatives and
61 pafty list, serving threeyears of
thre€ consecutive terms while the
Senate is elected at large, seruing
sir years oftwo consecutive terms.
The Senate was able to control
ihe so-called changing fortunes of
leadership by passing a resolution
in support of Senate President Tito
Sotto 3rd in the last day ofthe 17th
Congress. lmmediately after the
elections, the wirning 12 broke
bread with the leadership and
the motion u;as set in on how to
deal with and anive at hegoti;ted
decisions oa the chairmalships of
standing committees as well as the
oflicers of the chamber The new
system offiling for legislative mea'
sures for each senator was a most
welcome reform ag it allowed eaclr
15-21 term sharing
senatorto 6le theirtop 10 priorities
or pet bills. Researchers can readily
compare the campaign promises
made with the measures hled. No
senator "slole" measures filed be-
fore, unlike the practice of some
years back where others meiely
copied and filed the measures of
termed-out colleagues or were too
fast on the draw and took otherc as
their own. Senator Sotto remains the
Senate Presidentfor the 18th Congress
and it looks like things have been
ironed out. There are 43 standing
committees and three special bodies:
the Commission on Appointments,
Senate hlectoral Tribrrhal ,rnd the
Judicial and Bar Councii ' committees, approval ofthe rules
As for the House, the counsliip'
continues amongthe thr€e nam€s
and some others that are beilg
floated as possible compromise
candidates. The three are Repre
sentatives Alan Peter Cayetano,
Martin Romualdez and Lord Allan
Velasco. The other names floated
are those of Representatives Rufus
Rodriguez, Ronnie Zamora and
Sid Ungab. President Duterte was
asked bythe 6rstthree tO interyene
since no one appears to be willing
to give way. The endorsemeni is
valuable but still, being a delibera-
tive body, the decision lies with
the plenary
\ pfuq€
Time sharing as an option is
hard to enforce in the three-year
term ofthe bigger chamber There
is no stabiliry predictability and
sustainability. Months in Congress
are not 28 working dals but three
session days a week, or 12 session
days a month. Gone is the practice
ofl00 session days straight befor e a
recess. At most, a regular session is
78 session days. Fifteen months is
one regular se5siori. There are three
regular sessions per Congress. tt
takes until late September before
the House can organize itself to
. do business. Patly because ofthe
,horse tading on chairmanships of
and the designation of officers of
the chamber There are 60 standing
committees and 15 special com'
mittees. I{ow would time shar
ing work? How would the 15-21
pan out? Consideritg 2022 is
presidentia) election year, congres-
sionalworkwould begin to wane at
starting in December 2020. So,
what of 15-21? Would the
House first vote on. the time-
sharing option, ther vote on
the speakdrship? How would it
be imf lemented?
That is why the Speaker has to
be primus inter pares, first among
equals. He has to be the stabiliz-
-Ab/
w w,iqi. $'lr
ing force He has to crack the whip
and push the legislative agenda of
President Duterte. And coming in
after Arroyo, liose are huge shoes
fill. Not much politics since she
was in the sunset of her political
career but she rose tothe occasion
and delivered foicountry lt was 68
session days ofall work, work and
work. She was able to harness all
because she was a former president
who knew her economics and
could get the numben behind a
policy initiative.
Among the noisiest candidates
for speaker today, the presumptive
Cayetano shows a lot of political
immaturity in his *ays. Frorn
the get go, "l am running to be
.Speaker" to the threat to the presi-
dential daughter re breaking the
coalition, 1o €xtending the term
ofthe members ofthe.House, cut-
ting the terms of members of the
Sendte; cleating more bureaucracy
in the House which by design
already a legislative maze,.among
othefs. And just like that, with
the announcement by President
Dutefte of his endorseinent of
Cayeta4o, came "if . Romualdez
will consider VP," he will support
it. The trial balloons.are every-
where and that does.not augur well
for an administratibn which is on
& n { $a t $ $"}} * $ " *} s ll
its last three years and winning a
midterm by almost a sweep,
Cayetano is NP, Romualdez
is NLIP and Velasco is PDP You
would think that PDP would
get it b€ing the adopied party of
Presid€nt Duterte. And just like
that, because the leader is unable
to crack the whip, the Mindanao
agenda has been qacrificed tbat
even a Sid appears to be on the
sidelines. And you would think
the frapo ways are gone wirh tl.re
Dutert€ win. lt appears the top
political "assassin" got bne foot
in, same doggone persistehce
when he got the \? in the 20i 6
ticket of Duterte. The edifying
years of Cayetano's political ca-
reer is summed up bywhat? From
president Arroyo to Manny Villai
to Iuan Ponce Enrile ro vice nrcsi
dent lejomar Binay and yes, ltsusj
Chrisr the Lord has heen invokedl
in all these political plays.'l'ell rnel
is what's truei The vice presi,.lrntiall
c.rndidares in -201 6 were six bui de-l
signed to have threeTrojans {Cay-j
etano, Escudero and ltillanesl tol
harm who and ensure the victoryl
of whom? Would 1,1 todav votel
for the plesumptivet Not hird tol
figure that one. For as Bonapan{
said, "in politics, an absurdiry jd
not a handicap." I
I