Indecent exposures

It is not a privilege granted to elected officials to use Congress as a campaign medium, and it is the worst form of inequality in the political system.

The Commission on Elections should go further than banning poll wannabes from appearing on television, films, and social media next year, which is hardly enforceable anyway.

More deplorable is the way the incumbent members of Congress use the proceedings in both the House of Representatives and the Senate as a pulpit to grandstand.

It would be different if issues were raised and clarified for the public, but the raft of recent hearings in both chambers showed clear vested interests.

In one Senate hearing, for instance, the interpellator walked out in the middle of the proceedings as a peer tried to explain the procedure for a police raid.

The senator, who hogs social media, insisted on what he believed was a breach of procedure, an abuse of authority by cops during an operation, but his more knowledgeable peer tried to explain the manner of undertaking a police raid.

Since the unfortunate event was recorded and was all over the internet, the legislator who disrespected his colleagues with his walkout earned instead huge favorable reviews for supposedly standing up against police abuses.

A more loathsome episode in the House is the apparent jockeying for their 15 minutes of fame by representatives randomly berating or raising their voices at resource persons who are public officials.

Agency heads are hauled off to hearings at the Senate and House to be pounced on, sometimes with inane arguments to justify the camera’s focus on the solons.

Comelec Chairperson Erwin Garcia must consider talking to Senate President Migz Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez about restraining Congress members from overstepping their bounds during “investigations in aid of legislation.”

“We will presume all those who filed their certificates of candidacy as engaged in premature campaigning when it’s done before the campaign period,” Garcia had asserted.

Parliamentary courtesy should be impressed on the lawmakers, particularly those consumed by their ambitions.

Allowing incumbents and reelectionists to have their way in legitimate proceedings, such as public hearings for the discussion of a bill or a legislative probe, must be considered actions that should be subjected to sanctions.

It is not a privilege granted to elected officials to use Congress as a campaign medium, and it is the worst form of inequality in the political system.

The incumbent’s advantage is rooted in the personality-based popularity contest that is our elections.

Thus, legislators are chosen not for their competence in making laws but rather for their skill at manipulating public perception. Campaign narratives generally revolve around the candidates’ personas.

Charisma and mass appeal are the focus rather than policy platforms and track records.

Proof of such incongruity is that most campaign events proffer entertainment shows rather than substantive debates.

Political parties are not ideological organizations but operator groups whose main objective is to get their candidates to win at all costs. They rarely pay attention to their platforms, which are used to perpetuate their members’ personal and clan interests.

Thus, Filipino voters should not be blamed for the ballots they cast since political groups perpetrate the circus character of each election, which makes it easier for celebrities to capture a seat in Congress.

That’s why media-savvy independents win votes: voters do not see a difference between them and political party candidates.

Unless the system is changed, Congress will continue to be populated by jesters and pretenders.

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Credit belongs to: tribune.net.ph