A COUNTRY WITHOUT RULES OR CONTROLS

I don't know the future. I didn't write this FB Post to tell you how our country is going to end. I wrote this to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to show you a nation without rules or controls, borders or boundaries-- a nation where anything is possible. Where we go from here is a choice I leave to PDU30.

This is all about the rule of law, and the rule of law means that no-one is above, and no-one is beneath. But the Senate and the House of Representatives do both, all the time.

The opening of the Preamble in the Constitution is, “We, the sovereign Filipino people…” These words mean that the ultimate authority of the government emanates from the people in whom sovereignty resides. The essence of government itself was to provide security and welfare for its citizenry.

Excellent words and phrases but I am sorry to say they are treated as dead letters and belong to the realm of fantasy and fairy tales.

The rule of law in our country’s history is an awful example because not all of these public officials hold the law in high regard. This is the ultimate reason why our country is failing.

Article VI, Sec. 18, and Sec. 24, of the 1987 Constitution, give the Senate and the House of Representatives the power to confirm the appointments requiring confirmation; and to approve appropriation budget to all Departments of government.

The above-mentioned Laws made the Senators and Congressmen the most powerful elected officials in the country. One fell swoop of their sword, the government is paralyzed. These made some of the unscrupulous Senators and Congressmen throw their weight around that makes the other officials afraid of them. They can give you a real pain in the neck during the budget hearing.

Recently, you can see how AFP Chief of Staff Carlito Galvez was very tense while answering questions from Trillanes in the Senate budget hearing. Mocha Uson decided to resign to save the PCOO of its Budget; Gina Lopez was not confirmed because the mining companies lobbied with the Congressmen and the Senators for her not to be confirmed; and how many more Department Secretaries who were not confirmed because at one time, the draw the ire of these untouchables.

The power of the Senators and Congressmen concerning the Budget is indispensable to give meaning to the essence of the government to provide security and welfare for its citizenry-- to make life easy for the people and ensure that they were adequately protected and provided with good things of life. But the irony of it is, what was thought as the end goal for the promulgation of these laws had become the opportunity to oppress, to abuse power, to make it a source for corruption, and the opportunity to vent their spleen to their prejudice and to get anything they want.