Stories tagged
‘house of representatives’

Representatives scramble for power, peso, and privilege

by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

THE POLITICS in the House of Representatives has traditionally been defined by the struggle among legislators for the perks of a Congress seat. These are power, money, and prestige.

Read more… | Posted Tuesday, July 27th, 2004
The end of the rainbow?

De Venecia’s reign is challenged

by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

AS THE 13th Congress opens today, Jose de Venecia Jr. – Speaker of three previous post-Marcos Congresses and tireless architect of rainbow coalitions – finds himself in the middle of a scramble for power, money, and prestige more vicious than any he had experienced since he first became Speaker of the House in 1992.

Read more… | Posted Monday, July 26th, 2004

Fat salaries, big allowances, and other perks of lawmaking

by Yvonne T. Chua

CONGRESS formally opened on July 23, 2001, when his secretary handed him the cash equivalent of his very first paycheck as a member of the House of Representatives.

Read more… | Posted Wednesday, March 24th, 2004

An expensive–and unaccountable–legislature

by Yvonne T. Chua

IN 2002, taxpayers spent P939,472.47 every month on each senator and P429,601.79 on each congressman, based on published reports.

Shocking as these amounts may sound, they reflect only part of what Filipinos pay for their legislators’ upkeep. Government auditors themselves say they are in the dark over how Congress spends most of its money, in part because there is hardly any paper trail to help them scrutinize how lawmakers use public funds.

Read more… | Posted Tuesday, March 23rd, 2004

How representative is Congress?

by Sheila S. Coronel

EIGHTEEN years after the fall of Marcos, Congress is not becoming a more representative institution. In fact, today’s legislators are richer now than ever before. While poverty levels since 1986 have remained at roughly between 30 and 40 percent of the population, lawmakers have become wealthier.

Read more… | Posted Monday, March 22nd, 2004

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