Showing who’s boss

The House of Representatives gets wind of an alleged anomaly involving the misuse of Ilocos Norte’s share from the excise tax levied on tobacco. Wanting to get to the bottom of the matter, it decides to investigate and summons six officials from that province. But to the consternation of congressmen, the officials do not give the answers they want to hear.

And so the House cites the Ilocos Six for contempt and holds them under detention. They will remain so until the end of the life of this Congress, which is in 2019. Or until they sing the song the congressmen want them to sing, in which case the investigation is exposed for what it is –a sham, no different from most other congressional inquiries that are held primarily for the politics of it.

A congressional investigation is not a judicial trial. People invited, or subpoenaed in case they refuse to heed an invitation, are not suspects in a crime who may be treated with contempt and disdain. They are resource persons from whom information is respectfully sought, and to whom every courtesy must be extended by those who call themselves learned and honorable ladies and gentlemen.

But that is not what usually happens. Instead of extending resource persons every courtesy their dignity requires as guests and as human beings, the learned and honorable ladies and gentlemen of Congress are quick to fly off into a fit at the slightest displeasure incurred, from an answer different from what they like to hear, or even just some unwanted demeanor. They berate and threaten guests even as they gorge on catered food paid for by the taxes of these very same guests.

The House investigation into the alleged tobacco excise tax misuse is a sham because the investigators do not seem interested in the truth, otherwise they would have been willing to listen to what they are told, even if they do not agree with it. Instead, they seem to have already prejudged the case and all they want is for the Ilocos Six to bear out their prejudice. But the guests of Congress refused to cooperate, thereby severely wounding the pride and honor of congressmen.

Yet most congressmen who have ever taken part in such a wasteful and useless charade will swear otherwise. Congressional probes are necessary in the search for truth, they would say. They may be right in saying truth is the foundation upon which all legislation must lie. But the problem is congressmen do not have a franchise on truth. They only have a notion of what is true. Others have their own deep-held notions of what is true.

Reconciling all these notions of truth, in order to arrive at a general approximation of what the real truth is, is what an honest-to-goodness congressional inquiry is supposed to do.

A fair and impartial investigation is the crucible in which different contentions are tested in order to determine the ultimate facts. An inquiry, therefore, becomes a travesty when the threat of penalty hangs over free determination. Truth is compromised when a person sings in order to avoid trouble.

Detaining guests and resource persons whose only fault is refusing to sing the tune congressmen want to hear is both an unfair and an unjust exercise of power. Contempt cannot and does not apply to those who do not deserve it. In fact, in many instances, many congressmen are themselves far more contemptible than the people they drag before the public to humiliate and shame.