IN DEFENSE OF AN INSTITUTION, IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY

Speech Delivered by: CONGRESSMAN ROILO GOLEZ

Deputy Minority Leader
2d District, Paranaque City
13th Congress

Flag Raising, House of Representatives
13 February 2006

Mr. Secretary General, the Staff of the House of Representatives, ladies and gentlemen:

In January 2005, I delivered a privilege speech to defend, promote and explain the legislative oversight powers of Congress and began by quoting Woodrow Wilson, in his 1885 seminal work titled Congressional Government, where he stated:

“It is the proper duty of a representative body to look diligently into every affair of government and to talk much about what it sees. It is meant to be the eyes and the voice, and to embody the wisdom and will of its constituents. Unless Congress have and use every means of acquainting itself with the acts and the disposition of the administrative agents of the government, the country must be helpless to learn how it is being served…The informing function of Congress should be preferred even to its legislative function.”

I further quoted the famous scholar and expert on congressional matters Morris S. Ogul in his book Congress Oversees the Bureaucracy, where he asserted that Legislative oversight “…reviews the actions of…departments, agencies, and commissions, and of the programs and policies they administer…[and] is a significant facet of congressional efforts to control administration and policy.”[1]

And of course another noted expert on congressional affairs, Joel D. Aberbach, in his book “Keeping a Watchful Eye; The Politics of Congressional Oversight,” stated that congressional oversight is an “integral component of our government’s tripartite separation of powers and checks and balances.”

And finally I quoted the U.S. Congressional Oversight Manual published by the Congressional Research Service of the United States, in defining the purposes for congressional oversight, to wit:

1. Ensure executive compliance with legislative intent
2. Improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and economy of governmental operations
3. Evaluate program performance
4. Prevent executive encroachment on legislative prerogatives and powers
5. Investigate alleged instances of poor administration, arbitrary and capricious behavior, abuse, waste, dishonesty and fraud
6. Assess agency officials’ ability to manage and carry out program objectives
7. Review and determine federal financial priorities
8. Ensure that executive policies reflect the public interest
9. Protect individual rights and liberties

I delivered that privilege speech in the wake of the relentless Gen. Garcia hearings conducted by the House Committee on National Defense & Security which I chaired at that time. In my opinion, the committee’s intervention became necessary because of what many saw as the weak and halfhearted reaction of the AFP leadership to the Gen. Garcia case. I thought that privilege speech was a call to arms for the House to strengthen the exercise of its oversight powers as part of our Constitutional duty and responsibility.

I also meant that as a message to some Malacanang officials who I learned became very uncomfortable with the Gen. Garcia hearings saying it was embarrassing the President and suggesting the hearings should be terminated at once. In other words, I got some statics from well placed Malacanang officials and their agents.

But we did not relent and continued on.

Little did I know that in just a few months after that privilege speech on congressional oversight, the march of dizzying political events would trigger an assault through Executive Order 464 on that long enshrined power of legislative oversight.

What is sad is that EO 464 came about not as part of the usual clash between executive powers and legislative prerogatives but, to my mind, more of a means of protecting the President from the accusations that have shattered the President’s image and credibility, starting with the Garci tapes, then the Venable contract and then the shocking fertilizer fund mess.

Last week, EO 464 as a diabolical anti-democracy and anti-truth instrument of Malacañang reached its heights when it was used even to prevent cabinet members from attending budget and confirmation hearings, allegedly to shield them from unwarranted embarrassing questions directed by members of the Senate.

My research shows that it was the first time since the Quezon presidency that a president prevented cabinet members from appearing in budget hearings. Not even Marcos did that. His cabinet members dutifully attended the budget hearings of the Batasan Pambansa elected in 1978 and 1984. I know because I was a member of the executive branch as postmaster general during those days and we sweated it out during those committee and plenary budget sessions, and fielded lots of embarrassing, sometimes excruciating questions but Marcos never moved to protect us.

But the Senate fought to assert and protect its constitutional powers. As a result, the Palace “blinked” as reported in media.

The President is now allowing cabinet members to attend budget hearings.

First, I would like to state that I am heartened by the Senate’s fortitude in fighting EO 464. I cannot say the same about the reaction of the House leadership which to date has not given any statement, not even a whimper, in defense of the institution. It is a pity that we in the 13th Congress are being made legislative eunuchs but the leadership does not protest. This must me one of the reasons why the House is now ranked last as an institution by the Makati Business Club with a -80 rating.

But, second, I do not believe it is up to the President to allow cabinet members to attend budget hearings as though this exercise of legislative prerogative is at the sufferance of Malacañang.

And I am deeply disappointed and aggrieved that the apparent architects of EO 464 are officials whose rise in public office was founded on years of serving in Congress as a senator in the case of the President and as congressmen in the case of several Palace guards. Now, they seek to destroy Congress, the very institution that gave them comfort and shelter in their early public office years. And they attack Congress not really to make governance more efficient but to suppress the truth and thus protect themselves from very serious questions on the President’s legitimacy and the scandals that surround them like jueteng and the fertilizer fund mess.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me end this Flag Raising message by repeating my ending message in that legislative oversight privilege speech I delivered last year:

“Congressional oversight is about accountability and the rule of law… In a time of war, budget deficits, and a struggling economy, Congressional scrutiny of the activities and programs of the national government has never been more important. Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. The government continues to be riddled with examples of waste, fraud, and mismanagement. Wasteful spending and poor management reduce the quality of service to taxpayers and erode public confidence in government.

“Problems do not need to persist. In many cases, they can be solved without new laws or major infusions of money. Strong leadership at the highest levels of government is required. We also need a sustained commitment by Congress to focus on the problems and to hold people accountable until the mission is accomplished. “

The turn of political events that started in June last year drastically changed my status in the House.

From chairman of one of the most powerful committees of the House, I am now a deputy minority leader. From being executive vice president of the party identified with the President, I am now an independent, without any political party, but aligned with the group bravely opposing the President.

But whatever my political situation, the principles that I hold dear as far as the House as an institution remain unchanged. We must never stop loving the institution that is the House of Representatives because of its vital role in our democracy.

Ladies and gentlemen of the House staff, you all have your vital role in enhancing our institution. Good legislative oversight is impossible without your support. Let us all work together to protect and defend the House in order to protect and defend the long enshrined democratic principle of Checks and Balances, Separation of Powers and, most especially now, Public Accountability.

Thank you and Happy Valentine’s Day to all of us!