Ignored once again

By Herbert Vego

LIKE most opinion writers, I agree with two pronouncements that really mattered in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. First, “Effective today, all POGOs are banned.”

Better late than never. The President has finally discovered the true color of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) that have gained notoriety by engaging in syndicated crimes.

The other quotable presidential quote: “The West Philippine Sea is not a mere figment of our imagination. It is ours.”

With those brevities, he resonated with the stand of the majority of Filipinos that has been adequately amplified in the media.

Methinks, however, that the President intentionally ignored the  public clamor for an  anti-dynasty law contemplated by the framers of the 1987 Constitution.  I had thought he would comment on it.

It’s because, days before the July 22 SONA, Senator Robin Padilla filed Senate Bill 2730, seeking to prohibit political dynasties that prevent the brightest minds from crafting sensible laws beneficial to the Filipino people.

The bill  proposes that no spouse or person related within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity “shall be allowed to hold or run for any elective office in the same city and/or province, or any party list in the same election.”

“It is a step towards leveling the playing field in politics and governance,” a news report quoted Padilla.

A few other senators and congressmen in the past had filed anti-dynasty bills which ended up in the trash can.

Coming from Robin, it was unexpected, given his closeness to the dynastic family of former Pres. Rodriqo Duterte. What could have been his motive?

In a sense, it was his way of strutting his position as chair of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes.

He even cited a Harvard Academy research study in 2011 that showed how political dynasties stem from the tendency of elites to “persist and reproduce their power over time, undermining the effectiveness of institutional reforms in the process.”

Had the actor- turned-politician visualized Marcos endorsing his bill in his SONA?

Anyway, since Marcos made no mention of Padilla’s bill, Padilla has been deprived of one shining moment.

Marcos has his own son Sandro in the House, sister Imee in the Senate, and relatives in local governance. Moreover, he would not want to also lose the support of other powerful political dynasties.

Robin himself knows that it would take a miracle to pass his bill into law.  Let us therefore brush it aside as a “pampapogi” for whatever purpose it may later serve.

At the end of the day, Robin may hold his hands up as if to say, “Don’t blame us legislators. Blame the Constitutional Commission for entrusting to us legislators the task of enacting an anti-dynasty law.”

The 1987 Constitution, crafted by the Constitutional Commission during the revolutionary government of the late President Cory Aquino, has this provision (Article II, Section 26) aimed at banning political dynasty:

“The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

In other words, the Constitution passed on to Congress the responsibility to empower the law with implementing rules and regulations. It’s long overdue.

Remember when the late President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino got his most deafening applause?

It was for his 2015 SONA asking Congress to pass the anti-dynasty bill authored by then Rep. Edgar Erice of Caloocan City.

Alas, despite the applause, the bill failed to pass for being contrary to their self-interest.

Tama ka Robin.  The Constitutional Commissioners should have done it themselves.

-oOo-

HOPING FOR CHEAPER POWER

ANOTHER positive pronouncement made by the President in the SONA focused on the completion of stage 3 of the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) project, emphasizing that it has prevented prolonged blackouts on Panay Island from April to June this year.

The project will accommodate the transmission of additional power equivalent to the output of two 400-MW plants from Panay and Negros to Cebu.

Pres. Marcos said it would “stabilize the power situation in Western and Central Visayas, and avert recurrences of power outages experienced in the past.”

Under the law of supply and demand, power sufficiency would hopefully reduce the high electricity rates.

At the moment, however, power rates are still the focus of complaints from customers.  No thanks to the power-generation plants behind the high rates.

Luckily for the customers of Iloilo City’s lone power distributor, MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power), they enjoy the lowest power hike in the region this month at P12.8566 per kWh.

“The average residential rate increase is primarily due to the increase in the generation charge by P3.5739,” said Niel Parcon, MORE Power Vice President for Corporate Energy Sourcing and Regulatory Affairs.