***FINAL
SHOWDOWN ON MONDAY***
Camille
P. Balagtas
People's
TONIGHT
August
4, 2002
"STOP
PLASTIKAN, LETS RESOLVE THE ISSUE."-SEN. ARROYO
The
fight is not yet over, 13 senators will push for a votation on Monday to
resolve the June 3-6 validity
=====================================================
"Inumpisahan
nyo, tatapusin namin,"
This
may sound like a movie which is now showing in the Senate theater, as senators
are expected to a face to face showdown on Monday.
The
plan of the majority to use its numbers to break a seeming paralysis that again
enveloped the Senate as administration and opposition senators are still poles
apart on their interpretation of the events on that fateful June 3. Each side
claims the other's acts on that day were illegal.
Administration
Senators who expressed disappointment to the opposition camp says a big number
of the 13-member administration bloc will press the Senate leadership to hold a
vote for approval of the June 3 journal and put the issue of legality to rest.
Thus
said by Senator Joker Arroyo and Sen. Ralph Recto who insist that the issue be
resolved once and for all.
"Tama
na ang plastikan. Let us resolve this issue and put it to rest." Arroyo
said in a press conference.
Both
belong to the so-called "Congress bloc" in the administration group
as their members include their former colleague in the House of
Representatives, Sen. Manuel Villar, then the House speaker. Also in the bloc
are neophyte Senators Francis Pangilinan and Noli de Castro.
Come
Monday (Aug. 5), the administration bloc hopes to start filling up committees
vacated by Ople and independent Sen. John H. Osmeņa.
"We
need to move. Marami na tayong nabinbin na trabaho. We in the Senate are earning negative impression
because of what's happening." Sen. Recto said.
All 23 senators hold Monday what Sen. Robert
Barbers called "the last chance" of the Senate to regain public trust
and confidence.
Sen. Arroyo
said that he has already given up on the present Senate's ever getting
back public esteem.
"The
Senate is now hopeless, the tide of public sentiment is irreversible,"
Arroyo said. "The all-Senate caucus is a 'plastikan' caucus," Arroyo
said as he blamed Sen. Edgardo Angara for his politicking and presidential
ambition.
"I
will personally recommend Sen. Angara to become the Chairman of the Committee
on Senate Paralyzation and threats,"
Arroyo added.
Opposition Sen. Edgardo J. Angara refused to be drawn into a word war with
Arroyo but described the latter's statement as a side distraction.
Angara
stressed that the issue of procedure being raised by his group "is central
to the working of a deliberative body because rules and regulations are
promulgated for the protection of the minority as the majority needs no
protection because they can outvote us anytime... it's the minority that needs
protection."
Barbers
said that the caucus on Monday is the only remaining opportunity for the
senators to show the public that they could work in harmony for the common
good.
He has
expressed exasperation that supposed agreements to break the Senate impasse are
readily broken and senators keep on sharpening their swords.
He
challenged his colleagues to all resign if they could not stop bickerings and
infighting. He said that the resignation should take effect after six months at
most after they have passed all priority bills.
Barbers
said that the resignation would free billions of pesos that could be channeled
into the development projects of local government units.
Opposition
Sen. Edgardo Angara, on the other hand, remains confident that public approval
of the Senate would go up the moment they have formulated a common legislative
agenda and approved them.
He said
that the opposition is most willing to do its role, but others must also
cooperate.
"We
are for a working Senate. We have never been known to be obstructionist, as
shown when we were in the opposition during the Ramos administration," Angara
said.
He
expressed the belief that Barbers called for the mass resignation of senators
only out of exasperation.
"The
only way to regain public trust and confidence is not by resigning but by
cooperating to turn the Senate into a working chamber," he said.
Angara
added that it is not legally feasible to effect a mass resignation of senators.
"We
will be charged with abandonment of public office," he warned.
He also
said that the present Congress is a bicameral one, and the House could not
function alone without the Senate.
The
all-Senate caucus on Monday will discuss the proposed common legislative
agenda, the consideration of three bills approved by the opposition during its
June 3-6 caucus, and the joint committee report on the investigation of Sen.
Panfilo Lacson and some police officers relating to kidnapping for ransom and
drug trafficking.
Meanwhile,
Sen. Renato Cayetano warned yesterday that there would be doubts over the
legality of the bills approved by both the June 3 to 6 session of the Senate
and the Second Regular Session as long as the journals of the June session are
not approved by the Senate.
Senate
Resolution 391, adopted to end the 57-day impasse in the Senate, tacitly
acknowledged the passage of the Chainsaw Act, the Philippine-Hispanic
Friendship Day, and the Free Patent Act by the opposition-led session last June
3 to 6.
The
resolution embodied the agreement of the majority to approve these bills on
third and final reading, without reference at all to the June 3 to 6 session.
The agreement tacitly recognized the proceedings that led to the approval of
these measures and all the amendments introduced by the opposition.
People's
TONIGHT learned that a substantial
number of the 13-member administration bloc in the 23man Senate will press in
Monday's regular session the approval of their controversial June 3 journal
that declared the Senate adjournment sine die on that day.
Approval
would mean the June 3-6 regular session held by the opposition bloc was void.
"From
then, we can move forward," administration Senators Joker Arroyo and Ralph
Recto said.///camille p. balagtas