Today’s Senate: A shell of its previous illustrious image

In the early periods of the Republic, we were mesmerized by the quality of men and women elected to the Senate. They were the best and the brightest, and being a senator was a step toward the presidency and so respected in leadership stature. The Senate was the seat for the redress of grievances of the people facing hopeless situations. They fearlessly investigated anomalies in the branches of government and victims felt protected by the institution with the violators exposed publicly.

In recent years, we were dismayed to see a Senate that has become a shell of its old self. The blue ribbon committee’s investigations into COVID-19 anomalies were waylaid by a new bunch of neophyte senators, junked in plenary by sheer number, among them close to Malacañang. The once-august body now has failed the litmus test as the bulwark of redress. Can the outcome of the 2025 elections be any different? Can there be a chance for the best and the brightest to make it to the Senate?

The battle for the minds of voters could be on some worsening gut issues: 1) unemployment: will the 2 million unemployed find jobs?; 2) justice: will the victims of political crimes and the drug war ever get justice in our courts?; 3) food supply: will supply and prices of food, rice, pork, and basic commodities be stabilized?; 4) equal access to government budgets: will 40 percent of national revenues allocated to local government units be now distributed on a per capita basis so that poor municipalities will have equal access and control of their share of national revenues? If those who want genuine change will stake their political careers in pursuing these advocacies in the Senate, there is a ray of hope for them and for us.

MARVEL K. TAN,

Quezon City