Absent solons ‘irresponsible’ -- Gordon

By: Bernadette E. Tamayo - Journal Online
SENATOR Richard Gordon yesterday described as “irresponsible” colleagues at the House of Representatives who failed to attend the last session days of Congress so that some important bills were not passed.

“The Filipino people suffer yet again because of the indolence and the indifference of their representatives in the Lower House. It was downright irresponsible for the members of the House to choose not to attend the last three sessions of Congress,” Gordon said.

Among these bills not passed by the Lower Chamber due to lack of quorum was the Tourism Bill sponsored by Gordon.

Other priority bills unacted upon when Congress closed were the cheap medicines bill and the Human Rights Compensation Act.

He noted that despite being passed by the Senate on third reading long before the closing of session sine die, the House of Representatives failed to pass the Tourism Bill.

“Its excuse -- a lack of quorum in not one, but three session days in June, during which the representatives could have voted on the said measure,” he said.

“There could not have been a synchronized vehicular accident or sickness in the family which would have prevented them from doing so. There is simply no excuse nor explanation for such blatant and deliberate refusal to discharge their sworn duties to the Filipino people,” he said.

“The tourism bill aims, among other things, to provide our people with much-needed job opportunities here in our country, so that they do not have to leave their families behind and languish in foreign lands in search of greener pasture.”

“This reason alone should have been sufficient for our counterparts in the House of Representatives to find it urgent to pass this very important bill, especially in a time when even white-collar individuals deem it necessary to seek employment abroad, a sign that even they are suffering from the inadequacies of our economy,” he said.

Gordon said that the failure of the House of Representatives to pass the tourism bill “smack of indolence and apathy to the plight of the Filipino masses.”