Lobbyists

No one believes the rift between Malacañang and the Senate has healed. But there seems to be a truce following the provisional release of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales from Senate detention, and at least we’re spared from witnessing another banana-eating episode.

The congressional furor over the Venable lobbying deal has also curiously died down. Did someone whisper the identities of the anonymous financiers to certain senators? This looks like another congressional probe that will end up nowhere.

Something should at least come out of that Venable probe, before everything is forgotten in socials between Malacañang and the Senate.

During the long break to remember the dead, senators can start considering legislation that will make lobbying in this country a legal activity, subject to government regulation including caps on lobbying expenditures.

The legislation can include provisions on lobbying by the government overseas, particularly in Washington.

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Professional lobbying is a legitimate activity in the United States. Companies engaged in lobbying are registered; individuals or firms representing foreign governments must be duly registered. The rules are so detailed even lunch between a lobbyist and a lawmaker is regulated.

Lobbying in the US is still associated with bribery and corruption. But over the past decades the top professional US lobbyists have veered away from direct bribery and have instead become shapers of public opinion, using marketing tools and the mass media to influence the national agenda. Professional lobbying has reached such a level of sophistication that Americans are debating the ethics of it — whether those engaged in lobbying should also work for the common good. There is, of course, a debate on who defines the common good when there are competing interests.

In the Philippines, lobbying is still in the primitive stage and is largely equated with shady deals and corruption. Obviously the corruption angle is hard to prove, because only Jose Velarde is stupid enough to affix his signature to an anomalous deal in this country in the presence of a witness. Lobby money changes hands without receipts. Beneficiaries are wined and dined and sometimes sent on overseas junkets with substantial amounts of pocket money. Sometimes payoffs are made overseas.

We have no rules compelling transparency and accountability in lobbying for a piece of legislation. But you can pretty much guess who’s being paid by a particular interest group from the causes supported by a lawmaker.

That lack of transparency is precisely why we need to make lobbying a regulated activity.

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It’s time for senators to start producing laws from the endless investigations they conduct. What law has come out of the jueteng probe? Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz can say that jueteng has stopped nationwide, but we get these periodic lulls in illegal gambling operations. Once the furor has died down, jueteng returns. Or else someone introduces a new numbers game, and happy days are here again for the gambling barons.

Did the jueteng probe lead to a change in national policy on gambling? Is someone drawing up a law against racketeering that can be used against gambling lords? Once the TV cameras are gone, that’s the last we hear of a congressional inquiry.

The lack of legislation arising from congressional probes can only reinforce perceptions that all those inquiries are conducted merely to aggravate political instability, as part of the chronically disorganized attempts to unseat President Arroyo.

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The Venable deal need not go the same way. Gonzales seems ready to resign or be sent to the lethal injection chamber rather than implicate his boss or enlighten senators about the lobbying contract. If senators try to put him through another banana-chomping ordeal, he might require a heart transplant from which he may never recover.

Unable to pry any information from the national security adviser, senators can go for the next best thing and do what they’re paid to do: work on legislation.

The Venable probe is about lobbying overseas by the Philippine government. There is no law against it, and previous administrations have also hired the services of US lobbying firms. The Senate should decide whether this type of public expenditure should be covered by new laws that will promote transparency and accountability.

After looking into government lobbying overseas, senators should decide whether they want to regulate lobbying activities in the Philippines.

At the House of Representatives, there is a lot of lobbying ahead especially with the proposed amendments to the Constitution. Many of the proposals are economic and will have a major impact on big business. There is likely to be strong House resistance to regulating lobbying.

But even senators, who are opposed to Charter change that could lead to the abolition of their chamber, are likely to be cool to legislation that will define lobbying and make it a regulated activity.

Lobbyists have become experts at soliciting congressional support. Receiving gifts from lobbyists is one of the biggest perks of being a member of the legislature.

This is why we can expect strong congressional reluctance to pass any law that will regulate lobbying. Our lawmakers know enough not to bite the hand that feeds them.