An utter waste

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

After the disappointing turnout of the inquiry into the alleged overprice of the Iloilo Convention Center where former provincial administrator and star witness Manuel Mejorada failed to substantiate his allegations, admitting to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee that he based in conclusions on Wikipedia, newspapers and speculations; the Senate is considering a proposal to require resource persons to submit sworn affidavits before they are allowed to participate in such investigations.

It is surprising that the country’s premier legislative body and supposed breeding ground of future presidents that has been focusing a lot of its resources and the taxpayer’s money into launching investigations “in aid of legislation” willy-nilly does not have a system for vetting the resource persons to see if they have evidence to back up their claims before making their testimonies. In fact, this line of action was only suggested by Blue Ribbon vice chairman Sen. Sergio Osmeña and seconded by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara after last week’s embarrassing fiasco.

Investigations that are obviously for grandstanding or politics and have almost no legislative value are already wasting the time of this country’s legislature. When the honorable committee members of these activities aren’t even responsible enough to require resource persons to present proof so their staff can examine and verify such information to ensure the investigation will at least be worthwhile and can be conducted efficiently, it cheapens further the value of these investigations and gives Filipinos even more reason to question the quality of the people we put into our Senate.

If the Philippine Senate must insist on wasting time and resources on “investigations in aid of legislation”, it has to find a way to do it more efficiently. There has to be the proper vetting of issues, witnesses and evidence to make sure whatever time is spent on functions that have almost no legislative value isn’t wasted by dwelling on useless issues and accommodating witnesses that end up with nothing to substantial to add to an investigation.

We cannot allow resource persons like Manuel Mejorada to waste the time of the Senate by coming woefully unprepared to an investigation and our Senators to spend the Filipino taxpayer’s money by green lighting an investigation where they didn’t even bother to vet the so-called evidence. This fiasco reflects not only on the quality of the investigation and the witness, it also reveals the poor quality of our Senators when it comes to due diligence and the value they put into their work.*