ANALYSIS
Congress: A Hall of
Injustice
The senators who voted
for the anti-terrorism bill have nothing to say against the constitutional
anomaly that while the measure gives the chief executive and the military
vast authoritarian powers it is silent on Congress’ lack of power as a
“check and balance mechanism” to executive abuse.
BY BOBBY TUAZON
Bulatlat
The Senate approval of the
Anti-Terrorism Bill is seen as a possible prelude to a further
clampdown on civil liberties and an escalation of political killings.
PHOTO BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO |
Members of Congress,
pro-administration or otherwise, who shelved the bill providing for a
legislated wage increase of P125 for labor and approved the anti-terrorism
bill (ATB) got it all wrong. They may have made the influential business
groups feel relieved by thumbing down the wage increase measure and the
U.S.-supported Macapagal-Arroyo administration ecstatic because now it can
use the ATB to legitimize the suppression of political dissent in the
guise of counter-terrorism. But the double whammy – done in barely two
weeks - for sure made enemies out of millions of starving workers and
multitudes of Filipinos particularly their political organizations who now
face the prospects of being tagged collectively as “terrorists” in defense
of their civil, political and economic rights.
|
Their anti-people
acts are one more affirmation why Congress is a doomed institution –
scarred by pro-Arroyo legislators who use their tyranny of numbers to
shoot down two impeachment complaints against the President and to
shortcut constitutional change for self-serving political reasons; and
reeking of recycled political dynasties who use the institution to
perpetuate class rule through generations.
Recently, pro-Arroyo
congressmen moved to recall the recently-approved House Bill 345 providing
for a P125 (about US $2.50) across-the-board daily minimum wage increase
for workers, staggered over three years. (The Senate committee on labor
and employment had earlier adopted the same House bill.) The movers, led
by Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla, cited “business concerns” and the
measure’s “defects”, in asking that the wage bill be shelved.
It was evident,
however, that they were acting on behalf of President Macapagal-Arroyo who
had threatened to veto it following strong protests by the country’s
business elite. In a brazen show of a pro-business stance, the Department
of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and the National Economic Development
Authority (NEDA) also warned about the disastrous effects of the bill on
the economy such as mass lay-offs and business closures, adding that
regional wage boards remain the best venue to determine wage hikes.
Crispin Beltran
Detained Anakpawis
(toiling masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran, who as a leader of the Kilusang
Mayo Uno (KMU, May 1st Movement) had fathered the bill since
the Estrada administration, said the approved wage increase was not even
enough to cover a family’s basic daily expenses. Indeed, estimates by the
research think tank, IBON Foundation, show that the ideal daily income for
a family of six has climbed to P766 (US $15.32) even as real wages have
consistently fallen over the years. The current daily national average is
P283 (US $5.66), according to the DoLE itself, the equivalent of only 36
percent of the required daily minimum income – or one-half if the approved
wage increase is added in full.
Wage increase has
been labor’s centerpiece demand in the midst of a state policy of salary
freezes that has been pursued in deference to the business opposition and
in compliance with an archaic economic paradigm that says cheap labor
means more investments. Several years ago, Congress enacted a law
deregulating the daily minimum wage standard and creating the regional
wage boards to determine wage increases. Workers were also left alone to
slug it out with their employers through a collective bargaining agreement
for higher wages.
Yet the CBA has been
rendered inutile by more policies and labor directives that undermine
union rights and the violent persecution of labor activists. Not a few
unionists have died or been maimed fighting for a few pesos and their
right to strike. Not a few determined workers struggling to feed their
families have been tagged as "terrorists" or, as other military officials
would prefer, "communist terrorists." Now the government is about to be
armed with a "legal teeth" to curb unionism and the democratic rights of
other sectors.
Human security
Voting 16 to two, the
Senate approved on third reading Feb. 7 SB 2137 or the Human Security Act
of 2007, their version of the ATB with its contentious provisions
defanged, according to those who voted in favor. The two nays came from
Sens. Jamby Madrigal and Mar Roxas III. The Senate bill was authored by
Senate President Manuel Villar with Sens. Panfilo Lacson, Jinggoy Estrada,
Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Alfredo Lim, Bong Revilla and Joker Arroyo.
Reacting to the
Senate approval, CODAL, a group of lawyer-civil libertarians, said SB 2137
surpasses what the House version intends “to terrorize legitimate
dissenters.” Many of its provisions, the group said, are in violation of
the 1987 Constitution specifically with regard to the indefinite detention
of “terrorist suspects” and repressive provisions on surveillance, opening
and freezing of accounts, and other threats on civil liberties.
In a text message to
Bulatlat, CODAL also warned that the ratification of the ATB, a “legal
monster,” is being fast-tracked to be used against the opposition during
the election.
Endorsed by President
Macapagal-Arroyo as a priority bill in exchange for U.S. military aid, the
ATB was filed in Congress to add “legal teeth” to her war on terrorism the
thrust of which is actually in the form of counterinsurgency against the
Marxist-led armed movement. With the counter-insurgency campaign - now the
extended Oplan Bantay Laya II (Operation Plan Freedom Watch II) - under
criticism both in the Philippines and abroad especially in the wake of the
Melo fact-finding commission’s confirmation of military complicity in the
series of extra-judicial killings of activists, the ATB is anticipated to
be used as a legal weapon against party-list groups, people’s
organizations and other institutions tagged by the military as “front
organizations” of the armed Left.
Laws, especially the
repressive kind, are always open to abuse. Portentous, as Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo
had shown last year when she declared a state of national emergency and
issued gag orders clipping the investigative powers of the Senate, is that
the ATB offers the potential of being used against the critics of the
President including members of the upper chamber. The senators who voted
for the bill have nothing to say against the constitutional anomaly that
while the ATB gives the chief executive and the military vast
authoritarian powers it is silent on Congress’ lack of power as a “check
and balance mechanism” to executive abuse except to say that the law can
be subject to a regular review.
Congress has been
sitting on bills filed by Bayan Muna (BM or people first) making torture
punishable as a criminal act, calling for the immediate investigation of
human rights violations and other measures intended to enhance civil and
political rights. It is discriminatory yet incomprehensible for the
legislature to enact a bill that threatens freedom while being torpid on
bills that protect and enhance civil liberties. There is no sense of logic
in approving a bill that increases the repressive powers of the executive
department knowing that it will, as a result, marginalize legislative
powers. Congress is not only an eroded institution – it is headed to its
own doom. Bulatlat
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2007 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
