Article VI of the 1987 Constitution imposes the duties and confers the rights of the legislative branch of the government—the Philippine Congress. The Congress is comprised of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, which are vested with the power to make and pass laws through proposals and deliberations of bills.
The Senate President and the Speaker head the two houses, respectively. Our current leader, Hon. Pantaleon Alvarez, is the 24th Speaker of the House. Among the responsibilities of the Speaker are to preside over the sessions; decide on all questions of order; sign all acts, resolutions, writs, subpoenas, memorials, and warrants upon order of the House; exercise administrative functions; and appoint, suspend, dismiss, or discipline House personnel.
After 83 session days, the 17th Congress under Alvarez’s leadership has 186 approved bills and adopted resolutions. Among them are the house inquiry on the proliferation of drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison, the 2017 General Appropriations Act, dubbed as the “National Budget for Change”, the postponement of the barangay elections, and the most significant and controversial of them—the death penalty bill.
As lawmakers, we are mandated to uphold and prioritize the interest of the State and its people. In the previous years, the Congress had a public impression of being a “stamp pad”, a mere submissive legislature to the administration. However, with the leadership of Speaker Alvarez, we have a firmer and more independent Congress. Known to be an iron fist, Speaker Alvarez has earned both recognition and criticism from his fellow House Members and the public. Despite these views, he continues to perform his duties to the best of his abilities and remains steadfast with his decisions.
We have seen how the Speaker scrutinized projects that do not uphold public interest during congressional hearings. In the deliberations on the LRT-MRT Common Station, he has reprimanded the Department of Transportation for prioritizing business interest over public welfare, while he remained stern towards the dissatisfactory services of the telco companies during the franchise renewal.
With this, government agencies should expect that for the 2018 national budget, the Congress will be stricter and more meticulous. We will not tolerate poor absorptive capacity. Savings which were deemed from unused funds means unimplemented projects. Delayed projects by these agencies only equate to projects being denied from the people. We cannot permit this inefficiency in this administration. Given the poor performance and spending by agencies, it will be harder for them to get approval from us.
I commend the Speaker’s sincerity and determination in carrying out his duties as a lawmaker. He may be a tough House Speaker but I believe that what he has been doing is just right to maintain the integrity of the House of Representatives. If Members will not support the Speaker, we cannot find harmony towards the passage of laws, most especially when the welfare of the Filipino people is on the line.
As the Minority Leader, I serve as the spokesperson of the House Minority members. However, being in the Minority does not always mean being the opposing party. In our case, we oppose what we believe is wrong and we support what we believe is right. After all, we are elected by our constituents to uphold their interest.
