Congress: The peoples' most expensive, heavy burden

It’s the mission of the legislature to establish the policy framework for economic development, political stability, social cohesiveness, and harmony. With too many congressmen cost too much money for the poor taxpayers, and too many incompetent and lazy senators, the Philippine Congress has miserably failed to deliver.

If we assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the three branches of government, Congress turns out the most expensive and least useful to taxpayers. The executive is the highest achiever in the dimensions of governance: foreign affairs, national defense, education, health, social services, economic development, and political stability. The judiciary is also performing commendably, given the heavy volume of suits and litigations. But the legislature has achieved too little. Members of the Senate and the House, have performed in a mediocre and lackadaisical ways. They haven’t passed laws pushing the economy forward.

Filipino taxpayers have to spend billions annually for every senator and congressman. They have to account for every single centavo they get from government coffers. Our budget, now in trillions, is funded not only from revenue from taxes and customs duties, but also from domestic and foreign borrowings. Our children and grandchildren will have to pay for the senators and congressmen, many of whom are do-nothing absentees and influence-peddling traditional politicians. Why do we allow this monstrosity to continue burdening us with too much taxes, while they don’t perform their duties and responsibilities enough to gain our respect?

Look, Congress hasn’t even attempted to make meaningful and needed changes to our Labor Code. This martial law document, a presidential decree, is still burdening the business community and the industrial and trade sectors with authoritarian powers anathema to a globalized economy. Government is burdening the employers with too much interference to the extent of strangling the struggling micro, small-scale and medium-scale industries that constitute 95% of our economy. Congress keeps playing politics in passing laws that give five months of maternity leave and compels employers to give 10 days leave whenever a husband slaps a wife or gives her emotional violence, whatever that means.

Why should employers pay if the violence is inflicted by male or female spouses or lovers on a female worker? Why should employers pay if a worker becomes a solo parent? Is it their fault? I have nothing against solo parents or victims of violence. But why make the employers pay? Employers are paying too much taxes. They are already burdened by lazy, inept, and dishonest workers who file cases left and right. They are compelled to absorb thousands of workers of their contractors, just because some over-eager labor inspectors interviewed one disgruntled employee. What’s Congress doing to rescue the business community?

If Congress keeps on making it difficult for industries to survive, just to play politics, then why do we need the legislative branch? I believe that one chamber of less than 100 competent, honest, and wise Filipinos with impeccable integrity, should replace the Senate and the House. Let us start the first step to abolish the biggest burden to Filipinos.