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Congressmen: Lord Allan Velasco and Alan Peter Cayetano. Photos inquirer.net, genglobal.org
he current squabble for the speakership of the Batasan (PH House of Representatives) would be a non-issue in most other "well run" or "properly run" democracies. Unfortunately, the Philippines is a country where mostly amateurs rule. From the very top, down all government levels, "lack of experience" appears to be a common denominator.
In July of 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte met with the two congressmen vying for the speakership: Alan Peter Cayetano and Lord Allan Velasco. Instead of letting both battle it out for the post, Duterte, whose detractors claim has limited legislative expertise, decided to make both rivals agree to a novel, power-sharing arrangement. For the 18th Congress, Cayetano would be speaker for the first 15 months, then Velasco would take over for the remaining 21 months.
Given that the position of speaker is dependent on the members of the House and not on the president, Duterte's proposed arrangement was problematic from the get-go. This is because a speaker serves at the pleasure of his or her fellow members of Congress. Congressmen themselves decide who their speaker will be. They also decide when to replace him or her with a new speaker.
While both Cayetano and Velasco agreed to Duterte's proposal, it would have been challenging to accomplish in reality, no matter who went first. In an ideal world where politicians honor their word, such an arrangement might have worked. "Might" because a change of speaker is not 100% guaranteed—as we note above, House members still have the final say.
At this point, there is no sense in blaming the president for his flawed proposal. We are sure he made it with the best of intentions. But this whole issue also highlights the fact that our leaders continually fail to measure up to the tasks at hand. A president with years of legislative experience, or one who surrounds himself with top-notch advisers—not yes-men, would have foreseen this happening and would have come up with a different plan.
As a country, we have fallen behind many of our Asian neighbors because, aside from widespread corruption, we are also wasting so much time and resources on misguided projects, ineffective measures, and wasteful expenditures. This is all happening because we have leaders who lack the experience, training, and expertise required to get things done properly and efficiently. Published 10/10/2020
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