By contrast United States senators voted 366 times on bills and resolutions during their last session of congress. If we include the current session, the total raises to 527 as of this writing.
The Philippine House of Representatives has sent the Senate a total of 750 bills. But the Senate, under Drilon's stewardship has chosen instead to go down this path of endless investigations and ceaseless political maneuverings, resulting in its current dismal performance. All the while the country falls further and further behind its Asian neighbors and the rest of the world.
Overseas Filipinos, many of whom hope to return "home" after they retire, have a major stake in this issue. We need to hear what they have to say.
|
|
uring the last two sessions of congress, the Philippine Senate passed a
grand total of nine--that's right, nine!---bills.
Which means that
everything the Filipino people paid the senators and their staff in
salaries, the monies appropriated for each senator's pork barrel, plus
all the miscellaneous expenses shouldered by the country in behalf of
these twenty individuals all amounted to this...a measly nine bills for
the Filipino people.
There just isn't any way around this embarrassing statistic. Even
Senator Edgardo Angara reluctantly admitted that these last two sessions
were the least productive in 20 years. Senate President Franklin
Drilon's hopes for a Presidential bid seems now more unlikely than ever,
having lead the senate through pointless investigations and witch hunts
in a desperate bid to unseat President Arroyo.
Today, even the usually complacent
Filipino public is becoming increasingly upset. There is now talk about
a parliamentary system with a unicameral legislature as a way to
eliminate a "do-nothing" senate once and for all.
