EDITORIAL — Reforming the House

“Reform” was the most abused word in the five-hour public flogging of Jose de Venecia Jr. by his peers the other night at the House of Representatives. Congressmen should spare the public the rhetoric. From one traditional politician to another can’t be much of a change. Even the youthful congressman who filed the motion to declare the post of speaker vacant is simply perpetuating the dynasty built by his late father, who lost his bid for the presidency largely because of his “trapo” tag.

But being new to the job, Speaker Prospero Nograles can be accorded the benefit of the doubt. If he and his allies mean what they say about reforms, there are ways of persuading a skeptical public.

Giving up the congressional pork barrel is too much to ask. But Nograles can bring transparency to the system by requiring each congressman to submit a detailed accounting of the way the funds are used, and which contractors are awarded pork-financed projects. These records must be opened to the Commission on Audit for scrutiny.

The Nograles House can also do the nation a big service by passing bills on electoral reforms including campaign finance. Such bills should require full transparency in campaign contributions and expenditures. Nograles can go a step further by sponsoring bills to regulate lobbying, which is rampant but done surreptitiously in Congress. He can strengthen the chamber’s ethics panel and institute long overdue reforms in the scandal-tainted Commission on Appointments.

Finally, Nograles and his allies can mean what they say by passing bills that will rein in political dynasties. With politics now one of the most lucrative family businesses in this country, it has become nearly impossible to eliminate dynasties. But the system has reached shameless proportions. If Nograles and his allies, many of them beneficiaries of dynasties, can reduce brazenness in the perpetuation of power, the public will buy that blather about reforms.