Sec. 21, Art VI, of the Phil Constitution states, ” The Senate or the House of Representatives or any of its respective committees may conduct inquiries in aid of legislation in accordance with its duly published rules of procedure. The rights of persons appearing in or affected by such inquiries shall be respected.”
The above provision clearly states the basis of Congress in conducting investigations, and the same provision provides the limitations in the execise of such power. Congress, specifically the Senate, has been very busy conducting hearings. Almost every month, the Senate opens an investigations in almost everything under the sun or I should say where there is a lot of media coverage (Look at Mar. He is everywhere with this Legacy scam. Why? Obviously bec as early as 2008, he’s already declared his candidacy for the Presidency though vicariously. The nerve).
A reasonable man would even think that the Senate has now become the Dept of Justice, PNP and the Court all at the same time. Out of the hundreds of investigations that the Senate has conducted, how many of them have been translated into laws or better yet has there been any conclusion to all of these hearings at all? What has happened to the ZTE scandal and fertilizer fund inquiries to mention a few?! And now this Legacy scam? Is there even an end to all of these? Certainly this is not what I imagined where my taxes would go. It wouldn’t hurt if there’s even a single law enacted after the hearings but there’s none. This is no longer in aid of legislation but in aid of publication.
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