Block voting

There is something very wrong when Congress decides to make it more difficult for ordinary citizens, much more the press, from getting their hands on the representatives' SALNs (Statement of Assets and Liabilities).

House Resolution 2467 tries to do exactly just that; before a request to obtain SALNs is approved, it requires that the applicant go and get the consent of the majority of the entire House of Representatives, acting in a plenary session. We can just imagine how many SALNs will be released with this requirement: Absolutely zero!

Imagine having to chase a numerical majority of 300 representatives. What are the chances that more than 150 congressmen and women will vote to release the highly sensitive financial information of one of their own? More likely, the representatives are going to close ranks, rather than start an internecine war (and if they have something to hide, trigger their own ultimate downfall).

How does one lobby very busy and hard-to-approach congresspersons? Already surrounded by bodyguards as they are, it would have to take a supremely strenuous effort to petition a representative to somehow sponsor a resolution. Unless one has excellent connections with a sitting representative, the chances that a congressperson will somehow take pity on a total stranger, who seems like an inquisitive busybody, will be nil.

Plus, to have such a resolution scheduled in the already jam-packed agenda of the body? Where would such a request be squeezed in? In between debates on the new tax measures or the flood of franchises being steered towards approval? Yes, this consent request will be so high on the list of their priorities.

All these obstacles, if explained to a neutral judge, would be enough to convince her that the Constitutional right to information is being bludgeoned by self-interested legislators. The only thing this resolution is designed to accomplish is not orderliness, or a procedure; it is intended to be a blockade to truth. It is designed to defy scrutiny and deny accountability.

Adding insult to constitutional injury is the copying charge of P300.00 per SALN. As one of the papers rightly points out, procuring the SALNs of all the members of Congress will mean shelling out P90,000.00, or what used to be nearly $2,000. How many quixotic truth-seekers will have the wherewithal to finance that much investment in investigative reporting? (If copying charges were this lucrative, a much better business strategy would be to buy photocopying machines and station them inside the House.)

Speaking of photocopying, some smartypants learned a valuable lesson from Trump's playbook, whose staunch refusal to release his tax returns, abetted by congressmen who likewise refused to issue a request order, has enabled Trump to shield himself from confirmation of the rumors that something was smelling real fishy in his tax filings. (That tactic will soon change under this Democrat-held US Congress though).

Having seen that bright idea deployed over in the West, our dear congresspersons are hoping to likewise employ a similar tactic here. This therefore should be quickly challenged, before further trampling upon our democratic institutions is caused by the stampeding herd.

Nice try, folks. But it doesn't take much to pierce through the intentions behind this resolution.

One wonders how insensitive (callous? inured?) to criticism our congresspersons have become. The contempt for democratic processes and the powerless intelligentsia is breathtaking. Yes, it seems they think they can get away with. Yes, it seems they don't care what the powerless say. Yes, it seems they think they run the world.

Woe be to us who are stuck with them.