The five new senators—Leila De Lima, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Joel Villanueva and Emmanuel Pacquiao—are preparing for their entry into the 17th Congress on July 25.
They are getting to know the workings of the Upper House: Hiring members of their team, organizing their offices, drafting bills according to their advocacies and reviewing legislative processes. Some of them have attended orientations for first-time senators and crash courses on governance.
To be sure, none of them are completely new to government work. They have achieved success—some, notoriety—in performing their duties, inspiring name recall that catapulted them to the Senate with its nationwide constituency.
Four of the five, with the exception of De Lima, have worked as members of the House of Representatives as either district or party-list representatives. Some of them have headed national government agencies. Gatchalian was for three terms a local chief executive.
Some need reinforcements more than others. While previous experience in government, particularly in legislative work, is ideal, the quality of the service counts as much as the nominal length of stay. Mouthing advocacy is meaningless when taken against how the officials actually lived.
Specifically, we take exception to Senator Villanueva’s shameless use of the agency he headed—the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority—to boost his senatorial candidacy. The former Tesda director-general had the temerity to call himself “Tesdaman” as though it was he who established the agency and funded all its projects. What ever happened to keeping the institution distinct from the individuals in it?
Inflating his achievements in running Tesda, we believe, was a convenient cover for accusations of misuse of Priority Development Assistance Fund while Villanueva headed, curiously, an anti-corruption party-list group at the House. He has never responded satisfactorily to the allegations.
And then there is Senator Pacquiao, who believes that popularity is enough preparation for public service. The boxer’s dismal attendance record during his years as lawmaker speaks volumes about how seriously he takes his job. It is likely the same pattern will emerge at the Senate, even as the Bible-quoting Pacquiao has filed an early bill supporting the death penalty.
It’s all common sense, Pacquiao tells us about how one should get the job done. Lawmaking is not grandstanding and trying to sound smart, he added. This one he got right—we hope he would heed his own advice, but we’re not too optimistic.
Filipinos are no strangers to underperforming senators who bring their prominent names and nothing else to their offices. We complain and mock them, sure. Still, their presence is a sorry reflection of the way we collectively think.
That we continue to elect those with underwhelming records, or those whom we know to be unfit for the job, just because their names ring a bell, defies all common sense. Alas, there seems to be no crash course to help us snap out of this.
