Sotto vows to push for limited number of oversight committees

Senator Vicente Sotto III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Senator  Vicente “Tito” Sotto III  has vowed to push for the rationalization of the numerous  congressional oversight committees when  the next Congress convenes in July to keep only those created by law and get rid of those created by simple resolutions.

He told reporters in an interview early this week that he would propose to trim down the number of oversight committees and remove those created by simple resolutions.

“As of November 5, 2012, there are 35 congressional (oversight) committees – 25 were created by law and 10 by resolutions,” Sotto said in a text message to INQUIRER.net Wednesday.

The 10 bodies created by simple resolutions, he said, are the oversight committees on labor, on Visiting Forces Agreement, on science and technology, on climate change, on economic affairs, on intelligence fund, on bases conversation, on local government, on procurement and on suffrage.

The 25 committees that were created by law, on the other hand, are the following: oversight committees on e-commerce, on ecological water waste, on clean air act, on clean water act,  on power commission, on anti-money laundering act, on agricultural and fisheries,  on drugs, on Bureau of Internal Revenue, on official development assistance, on Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on vehicle act, on overseas voting, on chain saw, and on automated election;

Oversight committees  on civil aviation, on medicines, on cooperatives, on human security, on biofuels, on agrarian reform, on tourism, expenditures, on overseas Filipino workers, and on risk management.

Sotto said he is a member of  three  to four  oversight committees created by law but doesn’t have oversight chairmanship.

It was resigned Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile who first brought up the issue on the numerous congressional oversight committees at the height  of the controversy over  the senators’ maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).

Enrile pointed out then the disparity in the budgets of these oversight committees with some having bigger budgets than the regular committees.