Roll call
Leaders of the House of Representatives were pleased to announce a record attendance at the start of their session yesterday, with 204 of the 236 members answering a roll call. This was probably the result of a proposal from the minority bloc to compel attendance during session days through a roll call at the start and end of every session.No one knows how long House members can keep up the high attendance before diligence slackens and absenteeism again becomes the order of the day. The House is in session for only three days every week. Lawmakers have more recesses and vacations than schoolchildren. Despite the limited working days, absenteeism afflicts not just House members but also certain senators, as records of the 13th Congress show. House members point out that they spend the days outside the session hall visiting their districts and meeting with their constituents. Senators do not have such an excuse.
It’s true that the task of legislation requires touching base with the public. But the task also requires painstaking study, paperwork, and yes, attendance during deliberations on proposed pieces of legislation. Even legislators with the requisite expertise can find the job of crafting laws an enormous challenge. Those who lack the qualifications for the job, including those who won a seat in Congress simply by virtue of their popularity or a well-known surname, should be under greater pressure to prove their worth. If they can contribute little to the actual crafting of laws, they should at least see to it that they are present when their votes need to be counted. Congressional leaders, for their part, should set the example in seeing to it that every session day will have a quorum.
Taxpayers’ money is spent for the upkeep of two congressional chambers. Apart from getting operational funds, lawmakers also have control over the use of billions of pesos in public funds under the pork barrel system. Lawmakers must remember that they are public servants under the payroll of Juan de la Cruz. Congressional inquiries are fine as long as they don’t keep hitting dead ends; an investigation must result in legislation. And lawmakers must show up during session days to get some work done. Surely this isn’t too much to ask.
