Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco may be quite unpopular for a lot of people owing to his position as spokesperson of former vice president Jejomar Binay but his proposal for a “no work, no pay” bill for lawmakers makes a lot of sense and should be supported by the public.
Under House Bill 412, salary deductions would be imposed on any member of Congress who won’t attend, participate and take part in the regular and special sessions of Congress.
The deductions would be computed by dividing the monthly salary by the number of sessions equals salary per session day, and then multiplying the salary per session day to the number of absences which equals to the total deductions on the representative’s pay.
The bill stated that the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Audit and the Department of Budget and Management would provide the implementing rules and regulations of the proposed law in coordination with the accounting department of Congress.
Among those who opposed the bill was reelected Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who found it “demeaning” since the lawmakers are not like daily wage earners.
But that’s the problem with lawmakers who, after being elected to office, are confined mostly in Manila and would deign to talk to their constituents only when the elections are approaching.
And it’s not as if they lost their pork barrel which to be fair to Sen. Lacson, he didn’t avail of during his previous terms of office. Consider the records at Congress in which a lot of members are often absent despite the three-day workweek schedule they are required to attend.
The three-day workweek was enforced after the lawmakers supposedly found it difficult to work four days in Congress in Manila and attend to their constituents, if at all because a lot of them have staff and coordinators to do the work for them.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who served as a congressman representing Davao City, admitted that he did very little during his tenure in Congress as he usually goes out after the roll call is made.
To be honest, very little is done there because there are a lot of laws in place to begin with and it’s just a matter of enforcement on the President’s part and his subalterns to see to it that the business of governance is carried out. It’s about time that lawmakers come down from their lofty perches in the halls of Congress and be made to work and be treated like the daily wage earners who elected them to office.
If it weren’t for us daily wage earners whose taxes go to paying for their salaries, allowances, the food and clothes they eat and wear, these lawmakers have no business attending Congress.
And yet they can afford to be absent because a lot of them are landlords, capitalists and old rich who take advantage of their posts to further entrench their interests. It’s about time they get pay cuts for their absences.