It could be a new twist to the no work, no pay policy.<\/p>\n\n
With absenteeism a perennial problem in Congress, lawmakers who fail to meet the most basic requirement of showing up for work must be fined for their absences, some senatorial aspirants believe.<\/p>\n\n
What is more important, they say, is for voters to choose candidates who will uphold their sworn duties and not allow such problems to happen in the first place.<\/p>\n\n
Senatorial candidate Paolo Benigno Aquino IV of the administration coalition Team PNoy said being a member of the Senate was a serious responsibility and its members were expected, at the minimum, to attend its hearings and sessions.<\/p>\n\n
Failure to do so must entail penalties, such as fines that become higher as the absences worsen, he said during the \u201cPaninindigan\u201d senatorial forum of GMA 黑料社, the Inquirer\u2019s election partner. The first portion of the forum was to air last night.<\/p>\n\n
Making people aware<\/strong><\/p>\n\n \u201cI am in favor of penalizing those who don\u2019t attend [sessions]. Maybe they should be fined,\u201d Aquino said when asked about the issue of frequent absences.<\/p>\n\n Aquino added that the issue boiled down to leadership and governance and that voters must choose people who were ready to work and were dedicated to their jobs.<\/p>\n\n Another senatorial candidate, Teddy Casi\u00f1o, told the Inquirer that the imposition of fines could work not because the fines would hurt the senators in their pockets (many of them are moneyed anyway) but because it would bring the people\u2019s attention to the problem of absenteeism.<\/p>\n\n A representative of Bayan Muna party-list group, Casi\u00f1o is running for senator as an independent.<\/p>\n\n Gordon: Shame them <\/strong><\/p>\n\n Casi\u00f1o and Aquino said it was important to make public the attendance records of the lawmakers, along with how they spent their priority development assistance funds and\u00a0 operating expenses, so that the people would know what they were doing with those funds and hold them accountable.<\/p>\n\n \u201cLawmakers would be more conscious of their duties because the public would be interested in the issue, on who paid large fines,\u201d\u00a0 Casi\u00f1o said. \u201cThe public attention it will generate will make it effective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n For senatorial candidate Richard Gordon of the United Nationalist Alliance, there are enough rules to hold absentee lawmakers to account and it would be better to perhaps \u201cshame\u201d them for their delinquency.<\/p>\n\n Gordon stressed that voters should not elect candidates that would not give their all to their sworn duties.<\/p>\n\n Not popularity alone<\/strong><\/p>\n\n \u201cThe whole problem is not in imposing fines because by that time, you have elected them,\u201d Gordon said, adding that the real problem was the inability of people to distinguish between \u201cshow biz-politics type\u201d candidates and candidates promoting \u201csubstance-based\u201d politics.<\/p>\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s the reason for all the absences,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t get quality legislation because they elect poor-quality people based on popularity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Gordon said the electorate must learn to be discerning, especially amid the noise generated by \u201cshow biz\u201d controversies that tend to overshadow the more serious issues facing the country, such as the power crisis hampering Mindanao\u2019s development and the conflict in Sabah.<\/p>\n\n Problem of quorum<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Lack of warm bodies has led to the adjournment of sessions in Congress. The result is that crucial legislation has been delayed or has died\u00a0 from inaction.<\/p>\n\n Casi\u00f1o said the House leadership had to resort at times to sending text messages to lawmakers so that there would be sufficient quorum to proceed with the session.<\/p>\n\n He said there had also been instances where the leadership would release allowances or special allotments to make sure the lawmakers would attend the sessions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It could be a new twist to the no work, no pay policy. With absenteeism a perennial problem in Congress, lawmakers who fail to meet the most basic requirement of showing up for work must be fined for their absences, some senatorial aspirants believe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32343,481,36,37],"tags":[206083,41589],"byline":[68],"source":[206078],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n