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‘Candidates’ to lead COA?

February 2, 2015February 2, 2015 Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

By Rowena F. Caronan

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

BEING CHIEF bean counter may not sound that impressive, and the probability of going against countless politicians could be daunting. Yet the job of leading the 9,000 personnel under the Commission on Audit is crucial enough to merit a close scrutiny of the big names that have been floated as possible successors to outgoing COA Chairperson Ma. Gracia M. Pulido-Tan: Budget and Management Secretary Florencio ‘Butch’ B. Abad, Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares, and Executive Secretary Paquito ‘Jojo’ N. Ochoa Jr.

Under the 1987 Constitution, a COA chair must be at least 35 years old at the time of his/her appointment and a certified public accountant or lawyer with at least 10 years of experience in their respective fields. The law further requires that a COA chair must have not run for any public office immediately preceding his/her appointment.

Moreover, the COA chair and two other commissioners must not belong to the same profession. They are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Commission on Appointments. They will serve for a total of seven years and are prohibited by law to be reappointed. The commissioners could rise in rank to chair on two conditions. One, their promotion does not extend their service to the commission for more than seven years. Two, they are to serve the unexpired portion of their predecessor’s term.

So would Abad, Henares, or Ochoa be fit for the post? Here are some background information on each to help you decide:

Florencio ‘Butch’ B. Abad

BUDGET SEC. Florencio 'Butch' M. Abad, left, with Senator Juan Ponce Enrile | Photo from senate.gov.ph

BUDGET SEC. Florencio ‘Butch’ B. Abad, left, with Senator Juan Ponce Enrile | Photo from senate.gov.ph

Appointed Budget and Management Secretary in July 2010, Liberal Party stalwart Florencio B. Abad has led a department that seems to be sending mixed signals. While the Department of Budget and Management has introduced programs pushing for budget transparency, it has also been at the forefront of opaque disbursement practices as shown by the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.

Last year, Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged mastermind of a scheme to siphon pork-barrel funds of lawmakers through fake NGOs, even accused Abad of introducing her to the idea of setting up foundations. Abad has flatly denied doing such a thing, and with having ever dealt with Napoles. Like many other politicians, however, Abad has formed and led a number of NGOs. Among these was the Batanes Development Foundation Incorporation (BDFI), which implemented programs under then lawmaker Abad’s Countrywide Development Fund (the pork barrel’s former name) and had, according to a 1999 COA report, an unliquidated balance of PhP5 million.

Abad has worked both in the legislative and executive branches of government over the last 28 years. He was elected representative of his hometown Batanes from 1987 to 1990. He was re-elected thrice for the same seat from 1995 to 2004. During his 12 years in Congress, Abad had a turn at being the majority floor leader; he also chaired the House committee on appropriations, as well as that on people’s power and participation and the special committee on the 20 priority provinces. In addition, he was the House’s adviser to the government panel on peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)/National People’s Army (NPA)/National Democratic Front (NDF).

His stint at the Budget Department is Abad’s longest yet as Cabinet member. He was named Agrarian Reform Secretary by then President Corazon C. Aquino in January 1990, but resigned just three months later. In 2004, he was appointed Education Secretary by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. A year later, however, Abad again resigned. This time around, though, he had company, having joined other Arroyo Cabinet members and heads of government agencies – collectively known as the ‘Hyatt 10′ – in calling on the then President to stand down in the wake of the “Hello Garci” election scandal.

Abad earned his degrees in business administration and law at the Ateneo de Manila University. He passed the bar in 1985 and was research director of the Ateneo Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs from 1986 to 1987. He completed his Master in Public Administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University in 1994.

Abad was born into a political family. His father Jorge was a four-time Batanes representative aside from being appointed Public Works, Transportation, and Communications Secretary. His mother Aurora was also once the representative of Batanes, and had also been the province’s officer-in-charge governor.

Butch Abad’s wife, Henedina ‘Dina’ Razon Abad, replaced him in Congress in 2004. Dina Abad was re-elected in 2010 and 2013. Their daughter, Julia Andrea, heads the Presidential Management Staff under the Aquino administration.

Butch Abad listed seven other relatives in government in his 2013 assets declaration. His first cousins Ramon and Fernando Barona are, respectively, judge at Batanes’s Regional Trial Court and bailiff at Ivana, Batanes’s Metropolitan Trial Court. His niece Myla Salvacion B. Pisig is director at the Office of the President’s Appointments Secretary Office. His nephew-in-law Parrish Pisig is senior accountant management specialist at the Philippine National Oil Company. His nephews Arvin Kim Barona, Marc Angelo Abad, and Dominic Abad are, respectively, tribal affairs assistant at National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, public affairs officer at the House of Representatives, and employee at Veterans Memorial Medical Center.

Kim S. Jacinto-Henares

BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto S. Henares with Senator Franklin Drilon during the deliberation of the Sin Tax | Photo from senate.gov.ph

Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares has earned the reputation of being a tough tax collector. Under her watch, the BIR has launched an aggressive anti-tax evasion campaign. It has filed charges against allegedly erring taxpayers, including popular personalities, politicians, and self-employed professionals. Its most controversial target so far has been boxing champion and Sarangani Representative Emmanuel ‘Manny’ D. Pacquiao, who complained of being politically hounded by the BIR after his bank accounts were frozen.

Henares was appointed as BIR head by President Benigno S. Aquino III in July 2010 upon his assumption into office. Henares had campaigned initially for Manuel ‘Mar’ A. Roxas II, but later became Aquino’s economic adviser when Roxas gave way to Aquino in the 2010 presidential election. In July 2012, Henares declined her nomination for the post of Supreme Court chief justice to continue leading the BIR.

Henares served a two-year stint as BIR deputy commissioner under the Arroyo administration. She was part of the Hyatt 10 group of senior government officials who quit their jobs in the Arroyo government in 2005. She worked as a tax lawyer in two law firms and as a senior private sector development specialist at the International Finance Corporation unit of the World Bank. In November 2014, she was named as one of the 25 members of the United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.

Henares obtained her accounting degree at the De La Salle University, law at the Ateneo de Manila University, masters in Georgetown University, and advanced Math classes in Chinese schools. A target shooting ace, she is married to businessman Daniel ‘Danby’ L. Henares, who was appointed director of North Luzon Railways Corporation to serve from July 2013 to June 2014.

Paquito N. Ochoa Jr.

EXECUTIVE Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr., second from right, assisted by Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. and Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman, presents the 2012 Gawad CES Award to DSWD Undersecretary Alicia Bala in a ceremony at the Heroes Hall of the Malacañan Palace | Photo by Malacañang Photo Bureau

Paquito N. Ochoa Jr., has been Executive Secretary since Aquino took office in 2010. Ochoa also chairs the Cabinet cluster on security, justice, and peace, overseas preparedness response team, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) Commission.

Ochoa had been Aquino’s legal adviser since 1998 and formed the latter’s legal arm during his presidential campaign. But their relationship goes a long way back, since their fathers and namesakes – both pillars in the Liberal Party – were good friends. Ochoa has even been quoted in media reports as saying that Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino Jr. was spared from becoming one of the victims at the Plaza Miranda bombing in 1971 because he attended Ochoa Sr.’s birthday party in Pulilan, Bulacan.

Jojo Ochoa took economics at the University of Santo Tomas and law at the Ateneo de Manila University. He passed the bar in 1986 and set up practice in Bulacan, where he became director and vice president of the provincial chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. By the mid-1990s he had moved to Metro Manila and put up a law partnership. In 2006, he and three of his former Ateneo law school classmates formed the Marcos Ochoa Serapio Tan (MOST) Law Firm. Among the firm’s founding partners are the daughter-in-law of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the personal lawyer of deposed President Joseph Estrada.

Ochoa had also headed the legal team of Liberal Party Vice Chairman Feliciano ‘Sonny’ Belmonte Jr. in 2001, when Belmonte ran for mayor of Quezon City. Ochoa then served as Quezon City Administrator from 2003 to 2010.

Ochoa is the brother-in-law of Science and Technology Secretary Mario G. Montejo. His sister Ma. Benita Regala is manager of Housing Technology Development Division of the National Housing Authority. He is also cousin to Lutgardo Navarro, deputy administrator at Light Rail Transit Authority. – PCIJ, February 2015

COA under grace

February 2, 2015February 2, 2015 Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

By Fernando Cabigao Jr.

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

SHE IS the first female head of the Commission on Audit, but that will not be the only distinction Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan will be remembered for after her term of office lapses tomorrow. Indeed, she will leave behind a trail of groundbreaking reforms in the government’s premier audit institution, even though she was its chief for only three years and nine months.

Pulido-Tan herself has told the media that she considers as her legacy the spearheading of the special audit report on the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” from 2007 to 2009, during the Arroyo administration. The report has in part caused three incumbent senators to be detained and haled to court.

Started even before Pulido-Tan came to COA, the special audit sought to determine the allocation and use of PDAF and Various Infrastructures including Local Projects (VILP). It included the project implementation by the concerned government agencies and several government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

Of the P29.004 billion in PDAF appropriations and P50.874 billion in VILP appropriations from 2007 to 2009, only P8.374 billion in PDAF and P32.664 billion in VILP was covered by the audit due to the improper release of funds.

The COA report helped fuel a public clamor for the abolition of pork barrel. On Nov. 19, 2013, 13 justices of the high court voted to declare the pork barrel system as unconstitutional.

After being prodded to conduct an audit on PDAF allocations under President Benigno S. Aquino III’s term, the Commission is set to release another special audit report on PDAF. This time, the report will focus on PDAF allocations and utilization from 2010 to 2013 under Aquino’s watch.

The report will also include the highly criticized Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), a mechanism devised by the Aquino government to realign savings. According to the Budget Department, a total of P144.38 billion in DAP funds was disbursed for “high-impact, quick-disbursing, and socially-responsive projects.” On July 1, 2014, the Supreme Court, in a 13-0 vote with one abstention, declared part of DAP as unconstitutional.

Pulido-Tan, of course, has her share of critics. Unsurprisingly, among them is Senator Jose ‘Jinggoy’ Estrada, who managed to take a swat at the COA chief before he was put in detention for his alleged involvement in the pork-barrel scam. In a privilege speech at the Senate, Estrada scored Pulido-Tan for, among others, what he said were her far too frequent travels abroad, as well as the lack of any mention in the special audit report of disallowances by COA, or the minimal amounts of pork it found to have been misused by Aquino’s allies in Congress. “Very clearly,” said Estrada, “Chairman Pulido-Tan failed to obey the constitutional mandate reposed on COA, and that is compliance audit focused on public accountability that disallows irregular, unnecessary, excessive, and extravagant or unconscionable expenditures or uses of government funds.”

The COA head would remain mum on that point when the media questioned her later about Estrada’s speech. She would say, however, that at least Estrada “did not deny anything…(and) did not say we were wrong about our PDAF audit.”

In any case, Pulido-Tan has implemented other initiatives aside from the Commission’s critical audit reports. She was the first COA chairperson to release publicly — online and hard copy — the Report on Salaries and Allowances (ROSA) of public officials and employees. She also went full blast with the computerization of COA and distributed computers to auditors across the nation.

Moreover, she formed a Fraud Audits Office, which accepts complaints that concerned citizens have submitted personally or online through the COA “Citizens’ Desk” button on the COA’s website.

The “Citizens’ Desk” link directs the complainants to a Public Information System where e a ticket may be created for audit and non-audit related concerns. COA has investigated a number of complaints and included data inputs from the complainants in its audit scope.

Then there is the Citizen’s Participatory Audit (CPA), which Pulido-Tan pioneered to enhance citizen participation in the public audit process. Through CPA, non-government stakeholders – CSO, private sector, community members, and academic groups – can participate in the audit of public funds and ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of public services and state programs.

CPA was launched in 2012 with funding from Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) through the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific (ANSA-EAP). Pulido-Tan had already initiated the Citizens’ Desk, the first component of CPA, shortly after she was appointed Chairperson in April 2011.

Under CPA, COA taps civil society organizations or CSOs as partners to form special audit teams and conduct value-for-money audits of selected government projects. The CSOs perform non-technical duties such as data gathering, assessing of data results, and assisting in the drafting of audit reports. The thinking is that such an arrangement will help educate citizens in the audit process of public funds and encourage them to participate.

PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III converses with Augusto Lagman Commissioner of the Commission on Election (COMELEC) and Ma. Grace Pulido Tan Chairperson Commission on Audit after they were inducted into office on Tuesday (May 3) at Malacanang’s Rizal Hall.(Ryan Lim/REY BANIQUET/Malacanang Photo Bureau)

Three pilot audit projects have been conducted under the CPA: the Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela (CAMANAVA) flood control project under the Department of Public Works and Highways; Barangay Health Centers in Marikina City; and the Solid Waste Management Project of the local government of Quezon City. At the end of the audit process, the teams drafted reports, including recommendations for the improvement of the projects. The CPA results are incorporated in the audit reports of the agencies concerned.

A CPA project was also conducted in the disaster-relief activities for Typhoon Yolanda victims. A total of six audit teams were formed to audit the construction and awarding of bunkhouses and check the implementation of the cash-for-work (CFW) program. Each audit team had one CSO partner. The CSO partner helped in the inspection of bunkhouses, survey and interview of bunkhouse recipients, and survey of CFW recipients.

Before her exit from COA, Pulido-Tan had approved the rollout of the next phase of the CPAs to focus on farm-to-market roads in Palawan, tourism roads in Region XIII, public-private partnership program on construction of school buildings, and health programs in the education sector.

As of now, the CPA program is being implemented only in selected areas in the country. Hopefully, Pulido-Tan’s successor would be able to institutionalize the CPA and have it implemented in every cities and municipalities. One problem stands in the way, however. The P5-million budget that COA had proposed under the 2015 General Appropriations Act for the operation of a permanent CPA unit in COA had been slashed by the Department of Budget and Management. DBM has explained, COA sources said, that instead of a separate amount, the CPA budget has been tucked into COA’s budget for operations.

In November 2013, the CPA program won the “Bright Spots” Award at the London Open Government Partnership Summit.

That same year, Pulido-Tan was named one of five members of the United Nations’ International Audit Advisory Committee or UNIAAC.

The UN General Assembly appoints the five IAAC members “on the basis of equitable geographical representation, personal qualifications, and experience” to serve “in an expert advisory capacity and assist the Assembly in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities.” Pulido-Tan is the external auditor of both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). – PCIJ, February 2015

Silent emergency: Who should chair COA, Comelec, CSC, CHR?

February 2, 2015February 2, 2015 mcmangahas Leave a comment

By Malou Mangahas

A SILENT EMERGENCY is unfolding, a portent of a likely crisis of integrity should President Benigno S. Aquino III fail to act swiftly and well: Four Constitutional Commissions with mandate and power to run after crooks and foster good governance will become headless entities starting today and until May 2015. And unless Aquino acts soon to appoint the most qualified for the job, drift and inertia could ensue in these agencies, partisan politics could override his choices, and his “Daang Matuwid” reforms could head off to disrepair or reversal.

Today February 2 is the last day of work for Chairpersons Maria Gracia M. Pulido Tan of Commission on Audit (COA) and Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). It is also the day when Comelec Commissioners Lucenito N. Tagle and Elias R. Yusoph will step down, leaving the poll body with just four commissioners in position.

Meanwhile, Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Loretta Ann P. Rosales is scheduled to leave office in May 2015. She was appointed to the post on Sept, 1, 2010 to finish the unexpired term of Leila de Lima, who had been named Justice Secretary by Aquino.

PRESIDENT Benigno Simeon Aquino III administers the oath to Commission on Audit (COA) Chairperson (ad interim) Ma. Grace Pulido-Tan and Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Commissioner Augusto Lagman during the Oathtaking of Appointed Government Officials at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall, Malacanang Tuesday May 03, 2011. (Photo by: Ryan Lim/Malacanang Photo Bureau).

At the Civil Service Commission, Chairman Francisco T. Duque III seems to be on his way out as well soon. Confirmed as CSC head in February 2010, he was among then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s 977 “midnight appointees.”

Duque has logged 16 years in public service as an Arroyo appointee to various senior positions since 1999. He should have served a seven-year full term at the CSC until February 2017. It now appears though that he may have opted to leave earlier after the Supreme Court last week declared null and void Arroyo’s executive order that made him an “ex-officio” board member or trustee of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth), Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) and Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) concurrent to his posting as CSC chairman.

At a testimonial dinner on Friday at the Manila Hotel, Duque was among the outgoing commission chiefs who received plaques of appreciation from their colleagues at the Constitutional Fiscal Agency Group or CFAG.

The heads of the Constitutional Commissions, the Judiciary, the Office of the Ombudsman, and the Commission on Human Rights make up CFAG, which has aligned their administrative, personnel, operations, and budget polices and processes to assure their autonomy.

Thus far, it has been CFAG– and personnel in their agencies – that had the courtesy to say thank you to the four chairpersons who are exiting from public life. Neither the President nor Congress had seen it fit to give them a proper goodbye.

At the Manila Hotel gathering, Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno said that in the choice of replacements for the four chairpersons, “we cannot be content with none but the best for the future of the nation is at stake.”

“Integrity, competence, skills, and management know-how,” she said, are “the qualities needed to make these great institutions run.” Unto “the end of their term,” Sereno said the four chairpersons demonstrated “passion and dedication to the cause of the rule of law.”

According to Sereno, constitutional agencies must continue to preserve their independence and fiscal autonomy because of “the people’s growing demand for transparency and accountability.”

“What should occupy much of people’s time is how we can build our nation brick by brick,” Sereno said. “No longer shall politics take center stage over people’s time and attention.”

Former COA chairperson Maria Grace M. Pulido Tan answers questions from reporters during a news conference on August 2013.

Yet while it’s already deadline time for two chairpersons and two election commissioners, no news has been heard from Malacañang about the President’s decision on their replacements. There is hardly hint or evidence that a vigorous search and selection process is under way.

Some of the supposed top contenders interviewed by PCIJ also say they have zero notice from or contact with the Palace, as of this date.

In previous episodes of vacancies at Comelec or COA, reports about certain nominees or applicants being sought out for their curriculum vitae and for interviews with the President made the rounds of civil society, business groups, media, and civil-service networks.

In previous search and selection episodes, the Palace had also consulted with the outgoing officials about possible choices for their replacement. “That is the tradition,” a senior Comelec official said.

Until last weekend, however, Pulido-Tan told PCIJ she had no idea who will succeed her, while Brillantes and the commissioners he will leave behind had zero inkling about who had been short-listed for the three vacancies in Comelec.

It seems like the process has been kept under heavy lock and key, or it has not started in earnest.

Pending any announcements, Commissioner Heidi Mendoza has been named acting chair of COA, and Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, of Comelec.

In the meantime, raw news reports about the likely nominees to the COA and Comelec have sparked more concern than consensus.

Economist Solita C. Monsod says that in light of the upcoming May 2016 elections, the President is in a virtual “Catch 22″ situation: Should he decide in favor of politics or keep constitutional commissions independent?

Aquino’s choices “cannot be politicians but that is sine qua non – the nominees must be close to politicians,” Monsod says. “These commissions require people with independence of mind, all of them.”

“Between independence and politics,” Monsod adds, “I would rather have independence anytime.”

To be sure, it is the next President after Aquino who will bear the brunt, good or bad, of his choices. The new chairs of the four constitutional agencies will all serve seven-year full terms ending in 2022 yet.

Monsod herself has been reported to be a nominee to the Comelec posts. But she says she has not been contacted by the President’s office at all and the idea strikes her as “absolutely silly.”

Official sources say they have heard that for the position of COA chair. Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares, Budget Secretary Florencio ‘Butch’ Abad, and Executive Secretary Paquito ‘Jojo’ Ochoa Jr. are among the supposed candidates. Two senior officials told PCIJ that they have learned that in one incident, Ochoa had been heard saying, “Akin ang COA (COA is mine).” Whether he meant he wants to be COA chair or he wants to name a nominee to the post is not clear, however.

As for Comelec, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima (who had worked on election cases), retired Supreme Court Associate Justices Ed Nachura and Roberto Abad, and Joe Nathan Tenefrancia from the Avelino Cruz Jr. camp of what used to be the Villaraza Cruz Marcelo and Angangco law office or “The Firm” are said to be possible candidates for the chairmanship.

“The Firm,” which has since broken up into the Cruz and Villaraza factions (Cruz Marcelo &Tenefrancia versus Villaraza Angangco), served as counsel of Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas II when he ran for vice president in 2010. Tenefrancia is the counsel on record in Roxas’s election protest case against Vice President Jejomar C. Binay.

A transparent search and selection process is what businessman Ramon del Rosario Jr., chairman of the Makati Business Club, says the nation needs most urgently.

Del Rosario has two proposals: One, “we should call for an open and transparent process, up to the drawing up of a short list at least.” And two, considering the tight deadlines that could soon be overshadowed by the campaign for the May 2016 elections, “we should ask Congress’s Commission on Appointments to act promptly on the appointments, once they have been submitted by the President.” – PCIJ, February 2015

Pacquiao’s other job

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015 Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

MANNY PACQUIAO is busy these days.

The Pambansang Kamao or the Pacman, as he is popularly known in the Philippines, is headed for California this week to promote the documentary film “Manny,” which, you guessed it, is about his rise as a boxer.

He will also be one of the five judges of the Miss Universe beauty pageant that will be held in Florida on January 25. Reports also said he had an appearance on the The Today Show in the United States and a brief appearance at the Filipino American Press Club of New York’s holiday party with Consul General Mario De Leon Jr.

Manny Pacquiao is not just a boxer anymore, however. He also represents Sarangani province in the 16th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines.

Photo from Manny Pacquiao Facebook page

Criticised by some for his absences in the sessions of the House of Representatives, Pacquiao said in an article posted on the website of ABS-CBN that he is not ashamed of it because he has many fighting commitments.

On his poor attendance at the House of Representatives, Pacquiao said: “Hindi naman ako mahihiya diyan. Yes, marami akong absent because marami akong commitments at sa fights. Two fights a year, at sa training pa lang.” “I don’t want to boast what I have done in my district, pero kung pakitaan nang accomplishment by the term sa distrito. Importante kasi ‘yung tao matulungan mo, at hindi ‘yung lagi kang naka-upo doon sa Kongreso,” he added.

The article also quoted Pacquiao as saying:

“Puro batas ‘yung pina-file mo, wala namang pinakinabangan ang batas. Pero kailangan, you file the bill, ‘yung trabaho kailangan tulungan mo ang mga tao. Tapos ang term mo, tapos wala kang ginagawa sa mga tao.”

He even urged his constituents not to vote for him in the next elections “‘Yun, mas happy ako kung hindi nila ako iboboto, ‘yung para hindi ako gagastos. Wala naman akong hinahangad na magnanakaw. Hindi ako katulad na magnanakaw. May takot ako sa Panginoon,” he also said.

But what exactly are the duties and powers of senators and congressmen?

This article on our MoneyPolitics website says that as one of the branches of the government, “Congress’s role, first and foremost, is to make laws. The Senate and the House of Representatives can craft a new law, amend existing ones, or repeal old ones. The House of Representatives website and Senate website both provide information on bills, resolutions, and Republic Acts or laws introduced and enacted from the 13th Congress to present.”

Click here for more information on the duties and powers of legislators in the Philippines.