Zubiri vows to uphold Senate independence

MANILA, Philippines — As Congress began its second regular session yesterday, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri vowed to uphold the independence and transparency of the chamber, saying every bill would undergo quality control.

“Every measure bound for the President’s desk will pass through our quality control. Not a single bill will be enrolled unless it is fundable, and shovel- or rollout-ready,” Zubiri said in a speech before colleagues.

“Every bill carries a price tag which should not be hidden, as they are either paid by the taxes we pay today, or left to our children to settle, whose future has been mortgaged,” he said.

“We will keep the faith in an independent Senate – but with independence comes the grit to make hard decisions. We will sail against the wind, so to speak, even meeting headlong the gust of public opinion and to stay the course for as long as we know that we are right,” Zubiri stressed. “So those unpopular but correct, we will defend.”

He added: “Today, we open the regular session the way it has been set by tradition and by the Constitution: by listening to the President assess the nation, and account himself.”

Zubiri addressed the chamber hours before President Marcos delivered his 2nd State of the Nation Address.

He vowed to preserve the nature of the Senate as a “safe civic space where anyone can come to market his or her views.”

He added that he and fellow lawmakers will measure growth “not in terms of gross value of wealth created, but in terms of houses built and energized, of meals on tables, of students with diplomas, of employees with decent jobs and livable wages, of crime rates reduced, of the bounty of farm harvests, of faster internet speed, of reasonable market prices of goods, or of shorter commuting time.

“In tackling bills, let us bear in mind that these are not the President’s request, but the people’s. Some of these may not be what we want, but they are what the country needs,” he added.

“Like the men and women who sat in this chamber before us, let us respond in true Senate fashion: We will improve the bills before we approve them. We will purge the bad provisions and replace them with the good. But the Senate is a not mere processor of policies originating from the other branch,” he pointed out.

The Senate chief also said the chamber “will scrutinize minutely, from morning to midnight” the 2024 national budget program.

“We have our plate full and our calendar filled… Let us pass the bills creating the Center for Disease Control, the Virology Institute of the Philippines and the Medical Reserve Corps. To farmers who feed other people but cannot feed their own, let us pass a stronger anti-agricultural smuggling law so that the flood of imports will not drown the crops they grow,” Zubiri said.

The Senate, under his leadership, would vigorously work for the passage of the Ease of Paying Taxes Bill, Waste-to-Energy Bill and a Magna Carta for seafarers “that will serve as a safe harbor that will protect them.”

“To people looking for jobs, let the National Employment Action Plan be the guide towards gainful employment in which fair work is rewarded with fair pay,” he said.

The Senate will also provide relief to families “who toil in starvation wages” by passing an Across-the-Board Legislative Wage Hike.

He also promised to help end “the bane of bureaucratic red tape” by updating the E-Governance Act.

“To a country whose sovereignty has been disrespected, we will pass a bill that will modernize our defenses,” Zubiri added.

The Senate chief also acknowledged that the Senate without fiscalizers loses its potency and forfeits its credentials as a democratic body. “In our Minority Leader Koko Pimentel and Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros we find a vigilant opposition who do not obstruct but critique constructively, their inputs resulting in better laws,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Pimentel vowed to work harder as fiscalizer, along with Hontiveros.