No Pay for Absentee Lawmakers In the Country?

Senatorial candidates believe that lawmakers who fail to be present in the most important scope of their work–to be in Congress–must be dealt with proper sanctions.

This is a no pay for no work penalty.

Absenteeism was an underlying problem in the country’s Congress. In a senatorial forum of GMA News dubbed “Paninindigan” held last April 1, senatorial candidate Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said that being a member of the Senate is a serious responsibility and that members are expected with their utmost attendance.

Another senatorial candidate Teddy Casino said that imposition of fines on absentee senators will hurt them not because they don’t have money (considering senators do have money), but because the public would come to know about their behavior.

According to Casino and Aquino also, along with attendance, it would have been equally important to make public how the senators spent their priority assistance funds and operating expenses, to hold them accountable at what they are doing with it.

Aquino, in a news in abs-cbnews.com today, noted that the pork barrel is still taxpayers’ money, which is then distributed to constituents.

Senatorial candidate Richard Gordon on the other hand said that it would be good to shame absentee lawmakers of their delinquency.

He added that the problem is not on imposing fines but on electing quality legislators. He said that since they were elected already, the problem does not lie on that but on the public’s inability to distinguish between “show-biz politics type” candidates and “substance-based type” politics.

Gordon said the electorate must learn to be discerning, especially amid the noise generated by “show biz” controversies that tend to overshadow the more serious issues facing the country, such as the power crisis hampering Mindanao’s development and the conflict in Sabah.

Other than absenteeism, the lack of warm bodies has also led to the adjournment of sessions in Congress. The result is that crucial legislation has been delayed or has died from inaction.

Casiño said the House leadership had to resort at times to sending text messages to lawmakers so that there would be sufficient quorum to proceed with the session.

He said there had also been instances where the leadership would release allowances or special allotments to make sure the lawmakers would attend the sessions.

Source: inquirer.net, abs-cbnews.com