Pork barrel 101? Legislative academy up

How to channel pork barrel funds to dubious NGOs and get millions of pesos in kickbacks. How to fund ghost projects. And how to deflect charges that a lawmaker endorsed dubious NGOs by claiming that his signature was forged.

These are not the topics that a proposed legislative academy plans to offer to produce more competent lawmakers and to strengthen Congress as an institution.

Refiled

A bill, refiled in the 16th Congress, seeks to create the Philippine Legislative Academy to arm legislators with the “proper training, outlook and empowerment as they perform their tasks of nation-building through legislation.”

The proposed academy will also teach and train legislative staff and committee secretariat members who will likewise be performing crucial tasks as they work with lawmakers. It would be the in-house academic support of Congress.

Professionalize Congress

In a phone interview on Monday, Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing said he was pushing for the measure in order to strengthen and professionalize Congress.

At present, Congress’ image has been taking a beating after a number of incumbent and former lawmakers were implicated in the alleged pocketing of their pork barrel funds, which are supposed to help their impoverished constituents.

The National Bureau of Investigation has filed plunder charges against three senators, several former members of the House of Representatives, their key aides and heads of government corporations for their involvement in the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam said to be masterminded by Janet Lim-Napoles.

With the controversy, some parties have called for the abolition of Congress.

Bagatsing answered in the affirmative when asked if the academy would provide some form of values education.

Before scam broke out

He said the academy would be open not only to neophytes, but

also to second- and third-term lawmakers since “there’s always room for improvement,” he added.

Bagatsing filed the bill on July 1, just a few weeks before the pork barrel scam was exposed. He also filed a similar measure in the 15th Congress.

Help newly seated solons

In his explanatory note to the measure, Bagatsing said his bill was intended to address the scenario where a newly elected member of the House or the Senate grapples with the problems of the country and struggles with his job as a lawmaker.

“As an institution, Congress faces the challenge of producing lawmakers who go through the legislative process with barely having been clothed with the necessary skills and knowledge of their craft. Exposure to the process of lawmaking becomes a day-to-day learning experience for the newly seated members,” he said.

The academy would provide and implement a curriculum for legislative education and conduct seminars, workshops and other training programs to upgrade legislative support services and capabilities.