EDITORIAL - Get back to work

The Senate formally closed yesterday the blockbuster telenovela that was Joseph Estrada’s impeachment trial. As the 11 pro-Estrada senators whose vote triggered People Power II licked their wounds, talk swirled around who would be chosen as Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s vice president. Meanwhile, at the House of Representatives, congressmen were busy with yet another changing of the guard, unseating the man who was installed after Manuel Villar Jr. was booted out of the speakership for his role in Estrada’s impeachment. Over at Malacañang, officials were busy raiding the lawmakers’ ranks for executive posts.

In the meantime, what has happened to the main task of Congress? It’s called legislation, which has been virtually forgotten since Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson precipitated Estrada’s downfall. Now it’s nearly February and we’ve entered a new Lunar Year, yet we’re still waiting for Congress to pass a vital piece of legislation: the national budget for 2001. What about the other pending bills, a number of which are badly needed for economic recovery?

Lawmakers will probably set aside some time and energy to pass the General Appropriations Act of 2001. After that, however, most of them will be busy switching political affiliations and preparing for the elections in May, which includes fund-raising and rallying supporters. Will they still have time for boring distractions such as lawmaking?

President Arroyo should galvanize the new ruling party into action. Among the biggest public expectations of her administration is that it will pave the way for economic recovery. She herself has emphasized that there’s hard work ahead. For her tasks she needs a legislature that is ready to do its share in rebuilding from the ruins of the past. This means work, much of it boring but necessary.

The President must remind her congressional allies that May is still three months away, that she needs their help if she is to jump-start her programs in her first 100 days. She can’t risk allowing the situation in both chambers of Congress to dege-nerate into politics as usual, which is hardly what People Power II was all about.