Time to remove the partylist in Congress
Over the weekend, a Facebook issue became viral after a partylist congressman, ACTS-OFW Representative Aniceto “John” Bertiz III, was caught on video practically showing off his congressional ID in order to escape a security check at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. This congressman did not realize that footage from the security camera was uploaded to Facebook and not far from his line of passengers was Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos who dutifully removed her shoes in order to pass through the security check.
Because this issue became viral in Facebook, the partylist congressman offered a letter of apology for the way he acted saying last Sunday: “I offer no excuse, I am sincerely sorry for my actions.” But Bertiz’ letter comes with an explanation from his chief of staff Jun Aguilar who said “a group of Chinese-looking passengers escorted by airport staff had breezed through and did not undergo the same security protocols that everybody else had to go through.”
Aguilar said that they have already filed a complaint with MIAA General Manager Ed Monreal about the ease with which airport CCTV surveillance video controllers can arbitrarily upload and post security footage on social media. If you ask me, this was only the congressman’s excuse why he didn’t want to pass through the security measures when Governor Marcos had to go through the same security measures. As an added measure, Representative Bertiz came up with a social media network photo of him with presidential assistant Bong Go as if that would scare people into not talking about that incident.
Because of this incident, netizens in Facebook questioned why we are still having a partylist group at this time. This is a legitimate question that I hope will be addressed by a federal form of government. Come now, the partylist groups have been abused by many of its members and it is high time for this group to be thrown into extinction. Let’s hope that this incident will highlight the need for the members of the Legislative branch to follow the rule of law because first and foremost, the Legislative branch is the group making the laws and therefore they should never be exempted from the laws that they enact. Let’s hope something good comes out of this.
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As of today 77 bodies have been recovered from the landslide area in Barangay Tinaan, Naga City, and another eight are still missing. There is no question that with more than a week that has passed since the landslide happened there are no more survivors to be found. Slowly the dead are being found and the number of the missing is dwindling.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Cabrido, an environmentalist lawyer is planning to file a consolidated case against Apo Land and Quarry Corp., its business partner Cemex, and three government offices for the deadly landslide last September 20. According to Cabrido their damage suit will also include the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the city government of Naga. The P1 billion that they are requesting is P500 million for the reparations of the victims and P500 million for the rehabilitation of the landslide area.
Aside from the P1 billion they are asking in damages, Cabrido plans to ask the court to issue a permanent environmental protection order against mining and quarrying companies that take advantage of precious minerals and stones without regard to the lives of those living near them. I do not question this court suit, but knowing that our courts move ever so slowly, I’m sure that any court decision on this issue will take years to settle. When this issue goes to court, the media will focus on other issues.
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Talking about natural disaster, we sympathize with what happened in Palu, Indonesia, which suffered a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. Some photos of Palu showed the massive devastation that the earthquake caused. As of now, more than 800 people have been found dead with scores still missing after what can be considered one of Indonesia’s biggest earthquakes to date. This area has a population of some 1.2 million people and it is high time for us Filipinos to help our beleaguered ASEAN colleagues in Indonesia.
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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com
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