A tale of two chambers

Time was when the Senate had a reputation for mounting fearsome investigations while the House of Representatives’ versions were little more than tail-wagging exhibitions at a kennel. The reason was that senators, armed with identical mandates to presidents—national ones—had the stature to take on the chief executive or the Cabinet. On the other hand, the House, dependent on the presidency’s power to give or deny funding to districts, would only bare its fangs at those who dared challenge presidents.

Writing on the American equivalent in 1998, DA Ritchie observed that “Historically, investigations have required persistence, diligence, superior staff work, astute questioning, media attention, and luck.” In the Philippine context, there seems much more reliance on the last two than on the crucial first four.

It’s been interesting to compare the current Senate investigations into Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) spearheaded by Sen. Risa Hontiveros to the parallel investigation going on in the House which has made a bit of a folk hero of Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro. The House, to my mind, seems, for once, to be demonstrating some pretty effective teamwork which means there is good coaching going on behind the scenes.

Aficionados of investigations point to the satisfying manner in which police officials, for example, have been asked about their work and the people they deal with, only for the police officials to be confronted, at the end of their testimony, with pictures and videos demolishing the claims they’d just made. Even the manner in which Harry Roque was brought to heel, from being rather pleased with himself to becoming thoroughly entangled in his own evasions and contradictions, was outstanding.

No such comeuppance happened to Roque when he faced the Hontiveros committee except when Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian told him to stop being an utter ass. On the other hand, it seemed that many of the bombshells that harmed the group of the controversial and now ex-mayor Alice Guo came by way of government agencies who, at the very least, in the course of an effective investigation, could have made their revelations during the hearings. Instead, you could be forgiven for getting the impression that our national agencies ended up somehow being directed to assist the Senate every time it tried, but failed, to make a surefire case.

The problem of the Pogos and their friends in high and low places is that ultimately, both chambers are gunning for them, and in the process, those they expected to be their friends are either on the run, in the dock, or on the defensive.

Sort of like the fugitive Apollo Quiboloy, when you think of it—and that not only the former president, but the current Vice President, and their friends and allies in turn, are spending political capital on losing causes such as defending China which only invites contempt from the racist public, and Quiboloy, who is costing the Dutertes more political and social capital than he’s worth. Add to this their constant effort to drag in the military, and you have a lot of antagonized groups wanting to settle old scores.

This is why Sen. Bato dela Rosa has taken to making privilege speeches asking why he is being abandoned to his fate and worse, facing possible betrayal by others also facing investigations, and who are being encouraged to offer damaging testimony. What happened to the fear? What happened to the camaraderie? Why isn’t the old bluster, the old threats, the old drama not top box office anymore? He’s tried to play the game. Unfortunately he sits in a chamber that already broke with its tradition of legislative solidarity and independence. The best he can expect is social distancing, the hand-washing that led senators to abandon Leila de Lima to persecution by the gang Dela Rosa belonged to; they can look at him with pity but firmly remind him that what’s good for De Lima is good for Dela Rosa.

Which is unfair on many levels to De Lima not least because she suffered for taking her various roles in the government seriously while, in contrast, the best that can be said of the Dela Rosas of this world is that they have been loyal to their master.

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