A very sad day for the Philippine Senate

I must confess right at the outset that what I saw of the live coverage on tv last Friday of the Senate inquiry into illegal jueteng operations in the country lasted no more than thirty minutes.

But what I saw was enough to make me want to puke. I was sickened to my gut by the way the supposedly honorable Senator Jamby Madrigal was questioning a "guest" of the Senate, a man named Mosqueda, who was said to be a retired regional police director in Luzon.

What I caught in the brief span of time that I watched the coverage was Madrigal asking Mosqueda if he had undergone a physical examination upon retirement, to which the retired police officer replied in the negative, saying it was unnecessary since he knew he was physically fit.

Then Madrigal dropped the stink bomb. She asked Mosqueda if he had undergone a mental examination. Apparently Mosqueda did not get the drift. So Madrigal pressed by asking if Mosqueda was not suffering from Alzheimer's disease or amnesia.

Clearly, Madrigal was angry at something Mosqueda said or did not say prior to the time I tuned in. Whatever it was, I do not need to know. What I saw was enough. And what I saw was that, at every opportunity, Madrigal would make a snide remark about the mental health of Mosqueda.

Aside from almost telling Mosqueda to his face, on live tv seen nationwide, that he was a nut case, Madrigal also harassed the retired police officer by demanding that he limit his answer her questions to a simple yes or no.

As a brief backgrounder, the Senate called the inquiry in the wake of allegations that the husband, son and brother-in-law of President Arroyo have been receiving bribes from illegal gambling operators, specifically of jueteng.

Congressional inquiries, whether by the Senate or the House of Representatives, come at the drop of a hat. It is a way of politicians in getting into the act on every controversy or issue that happens to be in the news at any given time.

To justify these inquiries, especially since many of the issues clearly are more of a concern for law enforcement and the judiciary, either house of Congress invariably invokes the right to conduct them "in aid of legislation."

And since these are not judicial inquests which are not usually within the ambit of Congress to undertake but are mere inquiries in aid of legislation, people called to appear in them are essentially "guests," invited to act as resource persons for some future legislation.

In other words, senators and congressmen are expected to treat such people accordingly. Even if some of these people may seem uncooperative, honorable members of Congress are not expected to lose their composure but must maintain the dignity befitting the institution.

Therefore, for Madrigal to insult Mosqueda before the nation was uncalled for, was unbecoming of someone who is addressed as an honorable member of the Senate. I don't know who Mosqueda is. Maybe he is what Madrigal thinks he is. But then, Madrigal erased any difference.

Perhaps senators and congressmen who conduct these inquiries should remember one thing when they deal with their guests, and it is to treat them with a little courtesy and respect. They must not scold and humiliate them as if they are not worth an ounce of basic human dignity.

Come to think of it, even convicted criminals are not deprived of their basic human dignity. Yet, in mere congressional inquiries in aid of legislation, our legislators often act as if they are mightier even than God, stripping "guests" naked with abuse.

Senators and congressmen must never forget that "all authority of government emanates from the people." Well, the guests at these inquiries are the people. They are the citizens from whom the legislators derive both their mandate and their pay as mere representatives.





There is also something high-handed, arrogant and off the mark when legislators try to act like trial lawyers and demand that their guests reduce their answer to a mere yes or no. Such an imposition is in fact self-defeating.

If congressional inquiries in aid of legislation are called so Congress will know what to legislate, it defeats that purpose to limit answers to a mere yes or no. You know nothing from a yes or no. Or maybe there is really no need to know. Maybe these inquiries are just for show.