Category: senate

Requiem for separation of powers

Ernesto P. Maceda, Jr.

Yes, Congress chose not to convene in joint session. There are arguments to be made for standing behind the President and presenting a united front in times as grave as these. But so many wish that they would have done the joint session – if only to justify Congress’ continued raison d’etre.

We know the central institutional feature of the Constitution to be separation of powers. This means limited government. It would prevent a single branch from consolidating strength to act tyranically. The best protection was the interest of each branch in jealously defending its prerogatives. That is what the framers naturally assumed.  Read on…

The clowns are coming

If the movie and sports celebrities win—and they are sure to—they will, added to the incumbent senators who are likewise celebrities, turn the Senate from an august body into a big joke. Most likely, they will just be mere ornaments in the Senate and members of the committee on silence, with nothing positive to contribute to the conception and enactment of much-needed legislation for the development of the country. For how can these people intelligently deliberate on the Senate floor such complex laws as the Anti-Trust Law or the Securities Act, which, even to the Ivy League graduates, defy easy comprehension?

— Rogelio P. Vinluan

 

SET decision on Poe’s citizenship unsettling rather than comforting

Mel Sta. Maria

The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) decision throwing out the petition questioning the citizenship of Senator Grace Poe is an uncomfortable one. The number of the votes and the members either voting for or against the petition are causes for serious concern.

Read on…

blitzing the binays

on august 20, just 45 days from now, it will be a whole year that the senate blue ribbon subcommittee has been investigating, pounding on, the binays, father and son, for alleged corruption and other sins.  the hearing on july 8 will be the 22nd.  in numerology 22 is the most powerful of numbers, for good or ill.

“We will come out with something very interesting. It will show the character of the (Binay) family.” Trillanes said it is important for the public to know how the Vice President and his family really are so they would be able to make a better judgment in the 2016 elections.

well, at least di na nagpapanggap ang trying-hard triumvirate that this is all in aid of legislation.  trillanes practically admits that this is all in aid of changing the minds of voters who support vp binays bid for the presidency, obviously in aid of improving the prospects of other wanna-bids.  basta the mantra seems to be: anyone but binay.  hmm.  i wonder if that applies to bongbong as well.

i get it naman, this picking on the binays to knock the vp out of the race, and decisively.  but why is it taking forever?  it took them just six months to impeach and pronounce chief justice corona guilty.  maybe impeachment was the way to go?  or talaga namang walang ebidensiya that would stand up in an impeachment court?  or marami palang binay supporters sa lower house so speaker belmonte did not even want to try?

but what truly grates is that natabunan na lang ang PDAF, DAP, mamasapano, MRT, at kung anoano pa, no thanks to media.  worse, cayetano, pimentel, and trillanes don’t really inspire confidence in the rightness of their cause, being themselves not beyond reproach, correct me if i’m wrong.