The Opening of the 2nd Regular Session of the 14th Congress

At ten o’clock this Morning, July 28, 2008, the Second Regular Session of the 14^th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines was simultaneously opened in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Much of the public discussion regarding today’s even is focused on the President’s State of the Nation Address, or SONA. A choral competition of criticisms and praises has preceded the SONA, which I think is like putting the cart before the horse. I’d rather comment after I hear what the President has to say.

But today’s main event is actually the opening of the Second Regular Session of Congress. The President’s SONA is a consequence of the opening, and she is a guest at the House of the People. The significance of the opening of the session is that the Filipino People, through their elected representatives, are going to exercise their sovereignty and determine the how they are going to be governed through the laws and other measures that will be produced by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

For me as a legislator, the opening of session is the marching order for me to fulfill the duty vested in me by the constituency who voted for me and the Constitution which governs my actions as a public official.

Soon after our session as convened this morning, the Speaker of the House, Prospero Nograles, delivered his opening address to the members of the House. It was his first address during an Opening of Regular Session since he assumed office some time February of this year, therefore I was eagerly anticipating what he was going to say.

I am one who puts premium to word of honor, and give value to what I and other people say. As public officials, the words that come out of our mouths should be held against us, under the principle of accountability. No rhetorics or double talk, just plain truth and commitment.

I appreciated Speaker Nograles’ address. He was quite clear with regard to the direction that the House should undertake within a prescribed time frame. He imposed on the House specific, enumerated measures that he would like congressmen to work on and pass by the end of 2008.

There is nothing more desirable in a leader than getting clear and concise directions. At least everyone is tuned to the same objectives and the progress is measurable because of the time frame given.

If there’s one thing that I can say about Speaker Nograles during his first few months in office, he is a man who is decisive and takes accountability for his words. One of the examples of this trait was his handling of one of the controversial bills before the House of Representatives. During an executive session tackling the matter (the proceedings of which I can’t disclose because of the rules on executive sessions), he gave everyone a chance to state their cases for or against, but when a consensus could not be arrived at by the body, he made the decision and assumed responsibility for that decision.

He did not struggle with double talk, evasive rhetorics and hide behind the curtain of Congress being a deliberative and collective body. When push came to shove, he showed he had the guts to exercise his leadership role.

So as he was enumerating the targets of the House of Representatives, it allayed any doubt as to where the Second Regular Session will take us. At least the course is charted and the timelines drawn.

But what gave me a fresh hope for the House is the Speaker’s statement that the House of Representatives will assert its role of oversight. In the recent past, Congress, particularly the House of Representatives, became a lame duck in the attack against its independence and duty to oversee the workings of the Executive Department. When Executive Order 464 undermined Congress’ role of oversight, the House of Representatives meekly succumbed to the challenge, not raising as much as a whimper to counter that issuance which was abused by Executive Department officials in order to evade and avoid speaking in congressional inquiries.

With the Speaker’s assertion of this congressional duty and right, I was given a reason to be optimistic that there may be a chance for genuine reform in the House and in government.

After the Speaker’s speech and the opening session ceremonies, we adjourned in order to prepare for the afternoon’s Special Joint Session of Congress to hear the President’s SONA. For sure, the media will highlight the impromptu fashion show, owing to the fact that many who attend the SONA dress up for the occasion. Then it will be followed by the courtside commentaries on the President’s speech.

I hope that in the wake of all the glamour and glitter, the pomp and circumstance, and all the brouhaha of this event, the Filipino People will receive the appropriate attention they deserve, and that us public officials, we in government will be able to deliver the goods to an already suffering constituency.

Adbucted 3 year old already found!

Matthew, the 3 year old boy who went missing Tuesday night, has been found. Thankfully, the boy is well and is happily reunited with his family.

There's no word yet on the girl who brought Matthew out of the mall. Matthew was spotted in Santa Rosa, Laguna, together with the girl. When some security guards saw the two children, they suspected that the boy might be the one reported in the news. When they approached the two, the girl left.

The immediate public attention that was given to this case made it possible to recover Matthew. The timely reporting of the incident in the media was crucial to the boy's reunion with his family.

Thank God for His mercy.

ABDUCTED!!! 3 Year old boy needs your help and prayers!

As I was playing with my 8 and 5 year old sons this evening, a news item in TV Patrol caught my attention because of 3 things:

First, the news item was about a kidnapping of a three year old boy. Second, the abduction happened inside a mall. And third, it happened within my district and the victim is a constituent of mine.

As a father of four boys aged 17, 8, 5 and 2, I could immediately feel the trauma of the parents, a feeling that I never would like to experience.

Later in the evening, as I was checking messages and the posts in my multiply account, I came across a post about the abduction and again, the thought of a three year old boy in the company of strangers just wrenched my heart.

I would like to post the message of the boy's aunt, which might enable someone to help track him down.

"My pamangkin, Kuya Ken's son Matthew, where we took the other half of the business namesake was abducted last night at Festival Mall in Alabang.

Name: Matthew" Chu-chu" David Samudio
Age: 3 Years Old, Can barely speak straight.
Address: 16 guyabano st umali rd. summitville subdivision putatan muntinlupa city 1770

He was last seen at Tom's World Arcade in Festival Mall Alabang, around 8pm yesterday July 22, 2008 wearing Green Checkered Polo, Maong pants and Green Mr. Bean Slippers.

When we reviewed the surveillance camera in said mall, there was this chubby impoverished looking girl around 12-13 years old wearing a dirtied pink top with floral design and a reddish jogging pants who summoned my nephew and then whispered something to him, then my pamangkin who is very "bibo" readily took her hand as they went out of the said premises.

Guys, I need your help with this, if you know people in the media, police or government agency who might be able to HELP us locate my nephew, I'm begging you, please, please help us. Or at the very least, please pass this message to as many people as possible, who knows where the abductors might have taken him... Matthew is a very sickly kid, he rarely eats unless his yaya feeds him and he was about to have an operation for fluid in his right testis.

If there are any news or lead that can locate my nephew, please help us... Sobrang kawawa ang pamangkin ko, who knows how they are treating him...I dont want this thing happening to any kid so please help my nephew. PLEASE. You can contact my brother at 0923-638-4632.

Thank you so much and God Bless you!",

Editorial, Manila Times - July 15, 2008

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

EDITORIAL

Lobbyists in congressmen’s clothing ONE of the most puzzling questions—but puzzling only because there are “millions of answers”—is why the many bills that have been filed to reform the ancient Maritime Code of the Philippines are not being acted on. As a result, nothing could be done to streamline the maritime industry of our country. And there would be no end to such scandals as Sulpicio Lines’ happy escape from liability and accountability, despite its record of disasters and deaths.

The passage of these laws, or their consolidation into a new Maritime Code, might be one key to the end of sea disasters like those that Sulpicio Lines has become notorious for.

A hint of why a better Maritime Code can’t be passed was seen in the House of Representatives’ hearings on the sinking of the flagship of Sulpicio Lines Inc., the MV Princess of the Stars. Despite public opinion and a number of editorials, columns and broadcast commentaries asking for a thorough probe into the circumstances of the sinking, the House investigation did not at first (and maybe until now) seem to be going anywhere. It was obvious that there were enough congressmen whose moves worked against their colleagues whose aims were to dig up the truth and, if supported by correct findings, declare Sulpicio liable.

In fact, one of the questions bothering those who wish to reform the maritime industry and create a new Maritime Code is why the House opened its hearing as if to steal the thunder from the investigation of the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI). The members of the BMI have been doing quite an effective job. Sulpicio succeeded in getting the most incisive members of the board to resign. We hope that does not make the BMI a less rigorous investigative body.

Muntinlupa’s Congressman Ruffy Biazon probably wrote the most comprehensive maritime industry reform bill pending—or gathering dust—in the House. He has reminded his colleagues that since 1999 there has been in existence a complete set of findings and recommendations to effectively prevent sea disasters. The findings were arrived at from testimonies at the House hearings on the disaster of another Sulpicio ship, the MV Princess of the Orient.

Against Congressmen Biazon, Roilo Golez, Congresswoman Riza Hontiveros Baraquel and a handful of others, some congressman moved in a way that seemed designed to deflect questions about Sulpicio’s culpability.

Similar behavior was seen in the House when it was discussing what has been passed, thank God, and is now called Republic Act 9502 or the “Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicine Act of 2008. Congressmen acting as lobbyists for the foreign pharmaceutical industry did everything to frustrate passage of the House version of the bill which the Senate had already passed almost half a year earlier.

At one point the foreign pharma people even made the mistake of passing on a note of instructions to Congressman Teodoro Locsin Jr., who promptly exposed the vile deed. That incident confirmed suspicions that some congressmen where in fact doing errands for business and other vested-interest groups.

These lobbyists in congressmen’s clothing are a despicably malevolent breed. They serve their masters to the point of destroying honest and patriotic men and women who are campaigning effectively for reforms to serve the common good, who expose acts and systems harmful to the Filipino people, the Philippine Republic and the economy.

Using some columnists and commentators who do their bidding, these lobbyist-congressmen wage media and innuendo campaigns to make upright congressmen, congresswomen and media people look bad, portraying them as takers of bribes. They invent the existence of a lobby fund in the service of invented vested-interest groups. This way they succeed in maligning the reformers and making other congressmen reluctant to support reforms, lest they too be stained.

These congressmen-lobbyists are traitors. They must be stopped and punished.

Billy Esposo Column Published in the Philippine Star, July 12, 2008

Do we still have a few good men?
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
Sunday, July 13, 2008

One newspaper coined the word “sulpicious” to refer to the highly questionable and uncanny developments surrounding the circumstances that followed the sinking of the Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI) flagship — Princess of the Stars — in Romblon waters.

While general public opinion weighed so heavily against SLI’s insensitive treatment of victims’ families and the shipping firm’s temerity to blame everyone else, the SLI backers have started to crawl from out of the woodwork.

Flouting its P200,000 ‘financial assistance’ to the families of victims (to whom this amount was due anyway from their insurance), SLI then proceeded to focus its money and resources in trying to salvage a heavily besmirched image and prevent imminent closure by going on a suing spree.

They have sued the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) and even one of their regular cargo customers — Del Monte.

Why SLI’s lawyers wanted the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) to take over the hearings on the sea disaster from the BMI and why the House of Representatives have so eagerly entered the scene simultaneous to ongoing inquiries are questions that have only reinforced public suspicion.

In the light of the credible BMI investigation — so credible that SLI sought to change the venue — Congress should have allowed the BMI to finish its task before seeking to get into the act.

As Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon aptly pointed out during the July 7 House hearing, the Princess of the Orient (also owned by SLI) sea disaster inquiry already provided in 1999 the recommendations on how to avert these sea tragedies. In effect, Ruffy Biazon suggested that the July 7 House hearing could well be redundant in the light of what have already been discovered almost 10 years ago and have been given the proper prescriptions.

Rep. Biazon, along with Reps. Risa Hontiveros and Roilo Golez, were the redeeming members of that House probe.

On television, we witnessed how SLI so strangely got kid-glove treatment at the start of the House inquiry. Administration congressmen like Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman had directed the heat on Pagasa for its alleged inefficiency.

It is impossible to miss the uncanny pattern. At the height of highly controversial issues, some members of either houses of Congress would suddenly call for an inquiry.

Coffee shops have long been buzzing with horror tales of local companies who have been approached and propositioned on how they can avoid being lynched or eaten alive in the course of these inquiries which have been referred to as “inquiries in aid of fund-raising.”

When they are not trying to win votes, the same familiar faces in Congress somehow manage to show up to defend a controversial issue or entity. In other times, they will try to stall for time and prevent a controversial bill from taking off.

If Congress demons can prey on the dead bodies of the sea disaster, they can also prey on the living dead. Such is the case on the issue about tobacco when they vented their fury on staunch anti-smoking advocate and crusader Dr. Maricar Limpin, Executive Director of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance-Philippines (FCAP).

Since December 19, 2007, FCAP has been keenly watching the progress of House Bill 3368, authored by Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza, which “requires the package of all cigarette and other tobacco products to bear highly visible full-color ‘picture-based health warnings’ accompanied by a textual warning that is related to the picture.”

The bill has been delayed many times, thanks to a well-known tactic used by congressmen when they want to prevent the progress of a bill — question the lack of quorum.

Everyone knows that the House hardly ever gets a quorum attendance, thus, making it a favorite scapegoat for tobacco-loving congressmen who obviously cannot argue in defense of the tobacco industry. Dr. Soe Nyunt-U, World Health Organization representative to the Philippines, said that they are “going against an industry that has enormous resources, spending billions of dollars for marketing strategy, advertisement, and lobbying in Congress.”

I was not surprised when the full might of the tobacco industry swooped down on Dr. Limpin a month before the total ban on tobacco advertising took effect last July 1. They maligned her and pictured her as an endorser of anti-smoking drugs. Her activism has obviously become highly destructive to the tobacco industry.

I could not help notice the similarity with the tactics used to also attempt to demonize doctors when some congressmen tried to push the controversial House version of the Cheaper Medicines Bill. I was alarmed by the possible passing of the House version and I wrote several columns to expose the anomalies and conflict of interest (a leading proponent is a major generic drugs importer).

By diverting public attention to the real issues, the demons in Congress will keep trying to confuse us. Despite poverty, 34 percent of Filipinos smoke and most smokers happen to belong to the lower income bracket. These are the people who hardly make ends meet and who will not have the money to pay for hospital and medicine bills by the time smoking takes a toll on their health.

As consistently reflected in surveys, Congress as an institution has become the country’s most abominable, most appalling breeding ground for the new generation of underworld. They are so powerful that businessmen who are victims of inquiries in aid of legislative fund-raising will not want to speak up. This is how the bad guys get away with murder.

“Exposing” a non-existent lobby fund is also a favorite ploy. This turns the enemy, the focus of their demolition strategy, into something others will not want to be involved with, lest they be accused of “receiving money from the lobby fund.”

We are so trapped in our rotten system that most Filipinos have preferred to become numb to it all. And this makes the problem even worse because evil thrives when good men do nothing. The question is: do we still have a few good men? Or have the remaining few been effectively muffled by the noise and confusion wrought by the demons in Congress?

Chair Wrecker email and website: macesposo@yahoo.com and www.chairwrecker.com