In defense of Congress, the institution

I spent almost 10 years in Philippine Congress (both chambers) as a congressional staff and I have always been a student of legislatures. I know a lot of people will raise their brows but I will go on a limb for the institution and not the persons occupying the 16th today.

Wanted: Congressional reform

18-years ago, at the start of the 10th Congress, I wrote an article for one of the broadsheets on the same topic. At that time, I was assisting in setting up the office of then Sen. Marcelo B. Fernan. Interestingly, my article came out during the organizational meeting of the Ethics Committee, which he was chairing. I was asked to resign because of that article because Sen. Fernan didn’t want to “insult” his colleagues because of what I wrote. I stood by what I wrote and left his office by lunch promising to push for the reforms.

A legacy agenda

A sitting president is accorded two Congresses to put together the policies needed to propel one’ s administration and to sustain it beyond one’s term. In those two terms, the president can have divided houses or a consolidation of powers after midterm.