“Eh kasi nakakainis eh… Eh…insultuhan ng insultuhan tungkol sa bagay pampulitika at kokonti na lang panahon namin…”

“Lahat na kami mag-resign kung ganyan rin lang palang mag-away away kami at wala naman na kaming silbi sa taongbayan… eh bakit pa kami mag-di-display ng aming bad manners and bad conduct.”

(Roughly translated)

“It’s frustrating. All we do is trade insults over politics considering we are running out of time…”

“We should just resign if all we’re going to do is fight with each other and we no longer have any use to the public. Why should we display our bad manners and bad conduct.”

Santiago made this statement after walking out of yesterday’s Senate session wherein she lambasted her colleagues for their conduct the day before.

If you’re the sort of citizen who demands quality service from your leaders you’re probably dismayed as well with what went on during last Monday’s discussion on the committee report on Senator Manny Villar’s case. I think it was like watching spoiled children fighting.

I don’t have much to say about Villar’s case except that I find it highly questionable that the former senate president would refuse to exercise his right to face his accusers.

Anyway, going back to Santiago’s statement which inspired this post, I can’t say I disagree with her idea that if the Senate will just focus on politics and childish bickering it would be best for all the senators to just resign. Maybe it’s time we start considering the possibility of abolishing the Senate.

A commenter identified as Dr. Jose Rizal II left this insightful observation on Manolo Quezon III’s blogpost titled “Leaders and Managers.”

The biggest clincher really, Manolo, is that the Philippine Senate, being nationally-elected, DOES NOT REPRESENT ANY CONSTITUENCIES, unlike the US Senate whose constituencies are the various States. Because of this, the Senators do not really answer to anyone. Unlike in the USA where Senators answer to the States each of them represent, and constantly receive a barrage of letters from people in their respective states pleading different causes and issues, the Philippine Senate has Senators who, practically speaking, answer to no one.

It is no wonder, thus, that the Philippine Senate doesn’t really have much to do so that some of their members – one of whom is Noynoy – don’t really do any real legislation work, even if by definition, being a Senator means being a lawmaker.

Instead, such Senatorial slackers look for other “more interesting” things to do such as “questioning what the President does” (referred to by Filipinos as “fiscalizing” – a word which does not exist in the English language) and worse, are constantly in the look out for SCANDALS that have more to do with the lives of showbiz celebrities than with the National Interest. Scandals like the Senate Inquiry on the Brunei Beauties long ago as well as the recent Hayden Kho Sex Video Scandal come to mind.

You can read the full comment here.  And, here’s the video of Senator Santiago saying her quotable quote.

1. government subsidy for election campaigns (Fernando)

2. empowering local government units with increased budgets (Binay)

3. eliminating the “pwede na yan” (that will do) mentality (Legarda)

I am in favor of Fernando’s idea of passing the burden of financing election campaigns to the government. One obvious benefit is that it would level the playing field and give virtual unknowns equal opportunity to make themselves known to the electorate. Voters would then have more choices other than the usual faces.

I’m just not sure if having this set-up could really help put a stop to corruption as some people including Fernando believe. Maybe it could if elected officials only steal to pay back their election sponsors or to recoup their own expenses. Unfortunately, that is not the only reason why graft and corruption occurs. If it were then let’s not allow our politicians to spend another centavo from their own pockets.

Related to this, I think it’s about time  media entities especially the big TV and radio networks consider providing real public service by offering free airtime to all candidates. Anyone care to be the first? Kapuso? Kapamilya? As an incentive, I promise to be a loyal viewer of whoever will be the first to heed this call. Religious stations don’t count.

Moving on…

Binay’s idea of empowering local government units or LGUs by increasing their budgets also caught my attention even though it is nothing new. It’s an idea that has been floated around by other politicians in the past.

In an ideal world, giving local government units bigger budgets and free hand to manage it should be enough to ensure the delivery of better government services. The only problem is — our world is far from ideal. Binay himself has said during the ANC Forum that favoritism still comes into play in the granting of budgets. He noted that if the LGU official is not in the good graces of the powers that be he or she would have a hard time securing the funds he needs to effectively govern his area of jurisdiction.

There is one other issue that should be identified with regards to the disbursement of budgets. It’s about checks and balances. This is an issue that needs addressing even under the present set-up. Without proper accounting and auditing the risk of misappropriation becomes greater. Someone should closely monitor the use of any and all government funds. In fact, those doing the monitoring should be monitored as well. And, if we really want to look at it in the extreme, the monitors of the monitors should also be monitored. It’s that or we come up with a measure that would force corrupt officials to control their thievery.

Finally, let’s look at Senator Legarda’s idea that we do away with the “pwede na yan” (that will do) mentality. If I didn’t have anything to add to the idea I would have simply brushed it aside as just another motherhood statement.

In any case, Legarda correctly identified this albeit indirectly as a flaw in the Filipino character. Many, if not all of us, have been guilty of having such a mentality. It’s sad. As a nation, we should once and for all rid ourselves of this kind of mentality if not we condemn ourselves to an eternity of mediocrity. Unfortunately, purging ourselves of this mindset is  easier said than done especially where older generations are concerned. It is the younger generations who still have a chance of not developing such a mindset. That is, if we, the older generations, will try to create for them an environment that punishes mediocrity and rewards excellence. We should have done this yesterday.

Come May 2010, this “pwede na” mentality will again rear its ugly head. Many of us will vote for panderers, liars, thieves, and their ilk. Some will do so because they  don’t know any better. Others because they genuinely believe their choice. Sadly, most will do so because they are convinced the lesser evil is “pwede na.”