By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Reporter
CONGRESS should pass more concrete and pro-people measures in the second year of the Marcos administration, political analysts said.
“The 19th Congress is no different from the past Congresses,” Arjan P. Aguirre, a political science professor at the Ateneo De Manila University, said via Facebook Messenger chat. “We have a passive Legislature that wants to please an over-powerful president.”
He noted that while congressmen have approved mostly priority measures of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., reform- and development-oriented bills have largely been ignored by the Senate and House of Representatives.
Congress adjourned on May 31, having approved several priority bills including the estate tax amnesty extension, creation of regional specialty hospitals, condonation of unpaid agrarian reform loans and a bill setting a fixed term for military officials.
It also passed the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Act, which has faced issues on security, glitches and a “black market” for registered SIM cards.
Congress also approved a measure postponing village and youth council elections in October, which the Supreme Court voided last week for being illegal.
Both Houses also approved the so-called Maharlika Investment Fund bill, which Mr. Marcos Jr. certified as urgent.
“The laws and bills that have been approved by Congress often hold little relevance to the daily struggles of the ordinary Filipino worker,” Federation of Free Workers President Jose “Sonny” G. Matula said in a Viber chat.
He cited the rightsizing bill, which the House passed in March, as a “severe blow to the security of tenure of government employees and stands in contrast to the pro-labor pledges made.”
He called on lawmakers to ratify the International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions 190 and 151, which are pro-worker treaties.
Mr. Matula urged congressmen to start deliberations on a Senate-approved bill creating a job creation plan, as well as a P150-wage increase bill.
“All Congress does is conduct probes and hearings but there’s no result,” Federation of Free Farmers National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor said via Viber.
He said Congress should pass bills to curb smuggling and undervaluation of imports and identify the best use of land.
He added that lawmakers should amend the Rice Tariffication Act by reallowing the state to slap import limits, returning guidelines of the National Food Authority, and reconfiguring the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.
The Senate concurred with the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest free trade agreement. Agricultural groups are worried about its effects on the sector.
Chester B. Cabalza, founding president of Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation, cited the “lack of alternative solutions” on national security concerns.
“Politicians always question and complain about the power rivalry in the South China Sea without giving complex solutions to maritime security,” he said in a Messenger chat. “Some of them are not knowledgeable about national security frameworks and can’t offer us intelligent strategic options and a clear security policy.”
China, which claims more than 80% of the South China Sea, has ignored a 2016 ruling by a United Nations-backed arbitration court that voided its claim based on a 1940s map.
The Philippines has been unable to enforce the ruling and has since filed hundreds of protests over what it calls encroachment and harassment by China’s coast guard and its vast fishing fleet.
Analysts also called on lawmakers to show proper demeanor in its sessions.
“The decorum in the chamber seems to be going downhill,” Jean S. Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, said via Viber.
Senator and former action star Robin C. Padilla was criticized for not knowing how to make a motion in plenary, while Senator and former national police chief Ronald M. Dela Rosa knelt before police officials at a hearing.
The behavior of some lawmakers shows the influence of Mr. Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo R. Duterte, analysts said.
“The Duterte regime somehow set a new standard of politics in the Philippines by allowing politicians to resort to vulgarity, toxicity, unpredictability and crass tendencies to intersect with the formalities, regularity, temperance and restraints of institutionalized politics,” Mr. Aguirre said.
He noted how the past administration “kept the regime stable by using the populist style of rule to dominate political rule and governance.”