Three days
Tuesday, congressmen gave themselves the right to convene into an assembly to change the Philippine constitution. They shouted at the top of their lungs in the dead of the night to pass the resolution giving them the power to extend their term and the sitting president’s.
The next day, the same congressmen passed an agrarian bill that allows them to keep vast landholdings while 70 percent of the Filipino people remain landless.
Just today, the congressmen, along with their Senate brethren, are set to approve the so-called Right of Reply Bill that gives them the right to hug precious column inches and airtime whenever they feel like it. When passed, they can dictate what should be written on newspapers and broadcast to radio and television sets, more so when they feel they have been treated unfairly in past reports. Politicians believe they are treated unfairly in this country.
Meanwhile, these past three days, activists have been attacked, arrested and jailed protesting these bills.
Tomorrow, Congress’ second session goes into a recess. Many congressmen will travel abroad flush with money given by Malacanang for voting favorably on these bills.
