Questions that all Cebu congressmen should answer
Now that most of our Cebu representatives are asking us to give them another mandate to represent the Cebuanos in the House of Representatives, it is our right, nay, our duty to require them to make a truthful and objective report on their performance in Congress. Their reports shall aptly guide each conscientious Cebuano voter in the choice of their men and women in the legislature. The Cebuanos, all throughout our history, have always been represented by great and distinguished gentlemen and ladies in both houses of Congress. We have a very high standard to live up to. Any non-performing solon this time should not be voted back to office. This is not about family names, or social and economic stature. This is about performance.
First of all, in the three years of their last tenure, given the very high salaries and tremendous benefits, perks and privileges that they enjoyed, what bills of national and/or local importance have they successfully passed in Congress? Albeit representing a local constituency each, the members of Congress are national officials. They should have been able to legislate some strategic and far-reaching legislation that can benefit the most number of Filipinos. They should have been very active in the whole processes of legislation, not just in drafting bills but also in committee deliberations and debates. They should have presented intelligent and proper positions in the floor debates during plenary sessions. If they are perennial absentees, and members of the committee on silence, they should not be reelected.
Second, on the matter of attendance, this column intends to publish the record of attendance and absences of all Cebu congressmen. Many of the staff in the Lower and Upper House are my former law students. They can provide me with official records so that I can expose the perennially absentee congressmen and those who only come for attendance and then disappear like bubbles. I will get transcript of official records of committee hearings and plenary deliberations so that the Cebuanos will know who are the real congressmen and who were merely elected and never acted as such. There are a few who spend more time in their private businesses and personal affairs rather than fulfill their duties and responsibilities. I know these gentlemen and ladies. I have closely watched their performance.
Third, let us see what are the advocacies and committee memberships of our members in Congress. The Cebuanos should know where their representatives stand on issues like national security, foreign affairs, peace and order and economic development. The people should be told what is their congressmen's stand on unemployment, underemployment, labor migration, wages and employment, and on other related social issues like housing, urban poor settlements, affordable quality education, decent medical care, genuine agrarian and urban land reform. Our congressmen should be fully aware and knowledgeable of all these issues that are closely intertwined and mutually-reinforcing. They cannot just be giving dole-outs or be happy with pa-pogi ''praise releases."
Fourth, congressmen should cease acting as contractors of roads, bridges, and waiting sheds. They should start returning to their original ''raison d' etre'', which is to legislate and not to deal on construction which is the task of the DPWH and DOTC. They should not claim credit for the erection of any public hall or school building. It is not their money that was spent to construct them. They should become genuine solons worthy of their name as such. And they should stop being influence-peddlers who interfere in appointments and promotions of civil servants. For that would only corrupt the bureacuracy and perpetuate the desecration of the merit system. Congressmen should focus on making laws not on influence-peddling.
Fifth, congressmen must publish their statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth. They should disclose all their properties, real, personal and intellectual. They should also declare how many members of their family are running again despite the condemnation of family dynasty as a social malady. Sixth, all congressmen must declare how many ombudsman and Sandiganbayan cases they are facing. Seventh, all of them should outline their platform for the next three years. Eighth, they must declare how many consultants did they have, how much DAP and PDAP have they spent, accounted for or not. As a voter, it is our right to know all of these. Those who ignore these or refuse to declare, I am sorry to say, do not deserve our vote. Performance is what matters most to us. No ifs, no buts.
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