Fight for an Independent Senate

POWER is intoxicating. It is insatiable. Once one has it, one wants to have more of it. For this reason, power has to be controlled. This is especially true of power over people. There is then great wisdom that there should be checks and balances for the proper exercise of power in governance. In a democracy these checks and balances are institutionalized in the different branches of the government. Hence, we have the legislative, the executive and the judiciary which are supposed to be independent of each other and should check each other. We also have other institutions which scrutinize the exercise of power, like the press and the civil societies, and individual citizens who care for the common good.

Dictators do not want the checks and balances of power because they want total control. They do not want to be hampered in their exercise of power. This is why they tend to control the other institutions of governance either by buying them out, or by curtailing their activities through laws, by breaking their will through coercion and intimidation, or plainly throughelimination by killing them, by jailing them or by exile.

Is this not happening in our country now? The Lower House of Congress is in general subservient to the President who buys them out through favors and pork barrel allocations. The Supreme Court is now under the control of the President by ousting  the Chief Justice and in the process taming the other justices. Senator Delima is now two years in jail for unproven allegations. The Ombudsman and the Comelec Chairman are appointees of the present President. The military and the police are being wowed by increased salaries and political appointments of retired generals in civilian positions; business is being threatened by the controls of the bureaucracy; press freedom is threatened by spurious allegations and false news. Even the church and civil societies are fair game for vicious jokes and outright threats. In this time the Senate is still showing its independence. But for how long? This coming election is crucial. If we are able to elect independent minded people who are courageous and truthful in serving the country, we have a fair chance of preserving democracy in the land. If not, then we fall into de facto control of the President who is bent on exercising power without any control and who is very sensitive to criticisms.

The bishops of the CBCP had seen this already back in January. They came out with their pastoral letter on the May elections entitled: Seek the Common Good. It stated: “The year 2019 is not just an ordinary election year. The midterm election in May 13 is in itself already crucial. In our country today the checks and balances in the government are being undermined. So far the senate is the institution in the government that is holding out as our country is inching towards total control. It is very crucial therefore that we elect candidates who are principled, courageous, and who have the common good as their main concern and not their own political interests.” In this election then let us vote for candidates who can assure an independent senate.

Already bills on death penalty, on the lowering of the age of criminality to 12 years old, and on Constitutional Change have been passed by subservient Congress. It is the Senate which stop them from becoming laws of the land. Pork Barrel insertions were done by the Lower House and it is the Senate who called the attention of the nation to these insertions. The President is making a lot of international agreements with China behind the backs of the Filipinos. It is within the competence of the Senate to question these international deals. Where would we be if the President’s people and allies fill up the senate hall?

We need strong opposition to preserve our democratic space. We need a strong senate who can prevent the onrush of totalitarianism. Let us vote for an independent senate!