Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri (Senate PRIB photos)
MANILA, Philippines — Asserting its independence, the Senate on Monday vowed to “sail against the wind” and defend even those “unpopular but correct.”
This and a long list of promises were enumerated by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri when the Senate opened the 2nd regular session of the 19th Congress.
“We will keep the faith in an independent Senate—but with independence comes the grit to make hard decisions,” Zubiri said in a speech.
“We will sail against the wind, so to speak, even meeting headlong the gust of public opinion and to stay the course for as long as we know that we are right,” he said.
“So those unpopular but correct, we will defend. The plenary’s mood should not be dictated by any political weather vane,” the senator added.
The Senate leader also promised to respect its “collegial nature” by seeking consensus and compromise.
“We will debate, because a legislature which no longer does, ceases to be the country’s highest deliberative body,” Zubiri said.
The Senate, he said, will also remain a “safe civic space where anyone can come to market his or her views.”
And as they listen to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s second state of the nation address at 4 p.m. this Tuesday, Zubiri expects to hear from the President the current status of the country and where it should be heading.
“His take on things may differ with us. His can be rosy. Ours can be restrained,” he said. “Or in certain issues, we may be upbeat as he will be subdued.”
“But we do agree on the most important point: That the Senate has a major role to play in conquering the challenges before us,” Zubiri stressed.
Even before the President reveals his wish list from Congress, the Senate leader already promised that the upper chamber would improve the bills before approving them.
The Senate, he said, will “purge the bad provisions and replace them with the good.”
Zubiri also cited some of the laws that the country needs like the proposed Center for Disease Control, Virology Institute of the Philippines, and the Medical Reserve Corps; the Ease of Paying Taxes Bill, the Waste-to-Energy Bill, the National Employment Action Plan, and the long-awaited across-the-board legislative wage hike, among others.
“To a country whose sovereignty has been disrespected, we will pass a bill that will modernize our defenses,” he said.
Zubiri said the Senate will likewise “scrutinize minutely, from morning to midnight as it has been in the past” the 2024 national budget.
“Every measure bound for the President’s desk will pass through our quality control. Not a single bill will be enrolled unless it is fundable, and shovel- or rollout-ready,” he pointed out.
“Every bill carries a price tag which should not be hidden, as they are either paid by the taxes we pay today, or left to our children to settle, whose future has been mortgaged,” the Senate leader added.