The true Representative of the people

The Senate adjourned session last week without a vote on the Committee of the Whole’s report on the C-5 road controversy involving Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel Villar Jr. as he and his allies in the minority did not show up. This compromised other pending bills such as the Freedom of Information Act which will promote transparency in government, extending the term of the head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), reorganizing the National Telecommunications Commission, Philippine Immigration Act, Reproductive Health Bill, the LPG Industry Regulation and Safety Act, the Early Voting Bill, the proposed Philippine Tax Academy, New Central Bank Act, Cybercrime Prevention Act, an Act Defining and Penalizing the Crime of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance as well as the Blue Ribbon Committee’s report on the national broadband network controversy. As one majority bloc senator pointed out, “ they skunked out.” Senator Estrada said, “ What a shame, we owe it to the Filipino people (to let them know what is really happening).”

The House of Representatives had to adjourn as well because there was no quorum. Whatever happened to the leadership in both chambers? Is this another case of failure in leadership? Is this a clear sign that Congress and the Senate have failed in their mandates?

The House of Representatives and the Senate consist of officials with the highest positions of responsibility in our country. They are the representatives in whom the Filipino people have reposed their trust and in whose hands they have placed the future of the country. We trust that they have responded fully and with great fervor to the needs of our people. They are the men whom we have entrusted with the supreme duty of promoting the general welfare and guiding the destinies of the nation. But what have they done? Have they rendered it well? Have they done their best to keep faith with the people? Have they been obedient to the mandate, keeping high trust placed in them, which is considered paramount and sacred as your representative? Have they served the nation and their district to the best of their ability?

A worthy representative of the people should have the courage of his conviction. He owes to his constituents and to his country, not alone his service, but also his sincere judgment of what is right, proper and patriotic, unbiased by any extraneous considerations, influence or pressure. The true representative of the people is not “the cringing, fawning tool of the caucus, or of the mob, but he who rises to the full stature of political manhood. This does not mean that he should resort to exhibitions of rebelliousness, for there are few things more contemptible in the behavior of public men than to indulge in useless and unwarranted bravadoes, in and out of season, for mere purposes of display, and jut to catch the public eye. Such men lack sincerity and honest conviction, and they set up false issues before the people, that will only cause delay and obstruction in the public service and unnecessary controversies and misunderstandings.

With their legislative expertise we should have structures, systems and laws that will instill the discipline needed in nation building. Their patience and statesmanship should contribute to the output of both chambers. They should be the source of strength. They should protect our freedom. Yet, look at what they have done. They have left us shackled to the ideas that dragged us down to the abyss, losing our dignity and causing injustice to many. The poor have become poorer because they are still being decimated by the rich who hold government office, and therefore the fate of this country. They have protected themselves instead of protecting the people. They have created laws to protect their interest and not the interest of the country and its people.

Yes, we have schools everywhere, even in the remotest barrios, facilities for communication, roads, the services of science and modern technology, rapid industrial and agricultural development of the country, progressive laws in general, the dignification of laborer and the common law – all that have been expected of their work done within human limitations and fallibility but not done with sincerity and purity as these edifices are trembling underneath the rubbles of their foundations – they are mere facades waiting to crumble because the pillars have not been strengthened all these time.

As a true representative of the people, have you upheld to the best of your ability the prestige, the honor and dignity your district? Have you stood for law and order, for progress and justice to all, even when at times you had to sacrifice your own convenience and personal inclinations?

The House of Representatives and the Senate should live up to its name as the “ House of the People,” the crucible of national policies. As such, no time must be wasted in fast deliberations of the countless bills and resolutions affecting our lives.

We will be voting again come May 10 for the representatives of our districts. Let us be wiser and vote for a “true” representative this time around, someone who will uphold the principles of democracy and the sovereignty of the Filipino people. We should not get carried away by promises of a good life for in doing this we only strengthen and reinforce their legitimacy to rule.

We have become indifferent spectators to the unfolding of events that have greatly changed the nation’s political, social and environmental sceneries. In the present state of the country, we can only hope and keep our faith in God and in ourselves.