Inconsistent

For the most worthless reasons imaginable, all eyes are on the Philippine Senate. The chamber has taken centerstage in the endless tragi-comedy we sometimes call “government.”

The suspense is real: will the chamber actually return to work on Monday?

Every taxpayer should be anxious. We pay the salaries of the honorable men and women of the Senate – whether or not they do any work.

The Senate’s last session was cut short by a walkout staged by the minority. The walkout was engineered to avert a vote where the majority would, of course, prevail. The question of quorum averted that vote.

At issue last Tuesday was a motion to modify the rules to enable senators to vote by remote communications. This is not something new. When a pandemic ran rampant, our legislature held sessions using remote communications. The modification of the rules normalizes such participation should the need arise.

The motion was supported by senators belonging to the majority. It was strongly opposed by minority senators – in the name of protecting the chamber’s “integrity.” The rhetoric might be overdone.

The very senators who opposed the rule modification themselves proposed allowing participation via teleconferencing in earlier instances. In those instances, they invoked democratic principles.

In July 2019, Sens. Panfilo Lacson and Franklin Drilon filed Proposed Senate Resolution No. 51 seeking to allow detained senator Leila de Lima to participate in plenary sessions via teleconferencing.

At that time, they said preventing a senator from participating remotely “unduly deprives” millions of Filipinos of representation and weakens the collective wisdom of the chamber. The rhetoric was soaring – but not enough to get the resolution passed. No one walked out at that time.

In February 2021, Sens. Risa Hontiveros, Kiko Pangilinan, Franklin Drilon and Ralph Recto filed Proposed Senate Resolution No. 658 seeking to expand remote participation through digital platforms to include committee hearings, not just plenary sessions. The proposed resolution was argued articulately.

Participation through digital means was described as a “democratic innovation.” Allowing such participation was portrayed as necessary, humane and consistent with the Senate’s constitutional duty to ensure representation despite extraordinary circumstances.

Today, the very same ones who spoke so glowingly of enhancing participation through modern communications technology describe exactly the same proposal as an institutional abomination. A constitutional threat no less.

What changed since then? Not the technology being proposed. Not the legal framework. Not even the chamber’s own precedent.

What changed was the political context, not the grand principles. Our politicians are skilled in clothing hypocrisy with sly verbosity.

Only two votes separate the current majority and the minority. The minority can continue to pressure the majority if those who cannot be physically present in the sessions will be prohibited from participating through teleconferencing. The minority can battle the majority to a deadlock and prevent any work from getting done.

Only naked factional interest is on the line here.

As an institution, the Senate has all the power to change its internal rules. The very same persons now vociferously opposing any change themselves tried to make the same changes before. The Senate minority cannot blind the public to that and take our citizens for fools.

Former senator Franklin Drilon justifies the walkout as a way to prevent a “tyranny of the majority.” There is no such thing.

Otherwise we should ban voting as an invitation to tyranny.

Disapproved

While the senators are locked in endless factional struggle, SWS announced its latest survey measuring public appreciation of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s performance. The numbers are dismal.

Almost half of respondents (49 percent) disapprove of the Marcos II presidency. Only 33 percent approved of the President’s conduct in office. This produces a -15 percent net satisfaction rating – an unprecedented low.

The Palace tries to minimize the significance of the President’s approval rating going so deep under water. They try to describe this as some sort of fluke. Maybe even a statistical anomaly. But the numbers are screaming at our faces.

This is not a fluke. It is a pattern. Over the previous survey cycles, the President’s job approval numbers have been on a downtrend.

This is not a momentary problem. No politician rises from such devastating disapproval numbers. President Marcos does not have the luxury of time to work for a reversal of public appreciation of his work in office. He even has, it seems, less of the energy required to reverse a large trend.

The trajectory of related events conspires against the resurrection of the Marcos presidency. The full brunt of inflation has yet to hit us. At least one forecaster sees inflation hitting double digits. It’s the economy, stupid.

The peso is expected to depreciate further. Any sudden escalation of the war in the Middle East could force us to ration fuel. Power costs will spike. Food shortages could happen.

Our neighbors are doing well despite the external factors. Our government failed to spend. This is why we are flailing.

Now our leader finds himself without political capital to alter the course of things.