Fr. EMMANUEL “NONO” L. ALFONSO, SJ, is Executive Director of Jesuit Communications, writer and TV and radio host at ABS-CBN (Channel 2), DZMM Teleradyo, Radio Veritas and Radyo Katipunan. In 2008, he was given a Special Citation Award for Best Opinion Column Category at the 30th Catholic Mass Media Awards.
There’s a new show in town. It is scandalously entertaining, with mysterious who dunnit plots being revealed by the day, including salacious love affairs here and there involving Who’s who of Philippine society. Many are hooked to their TV sets or social media screens. But it’s not a new Korean telenovela that is sweeping the country. Rather, they are the relentless daily hearings being conducted in both chambers of Congress.
Some of the highlights in recent months include the Senate investigations into the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or POGO which have uncovered the dangerous and pervasive influence of international crime organizations on many of our provinces and cities as well as in various government agencies. These of course featured the “great escape” of Bamban Mayor Alice Guo from the Philippines and her eventual capture in Indonesia, which in turn warranted an investigation into how she pulled it off and which government officials colluded with her in her audacious getaway. Then there are the explosive budget hearings in both lower and upper houses that not only exposed the controversial Confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the misused or underutilized resources at the Department of Education, but also laid bare the Vice President’s rude and arrogant behavior toward an equal branch of government and her swollen sense of entitlement. Finally, ongoing now is what’s turning out to be the mother of all hearings which needed the concerted efforts of four Committees at the House of Representatives: the investigation of the so-called War on Drugs of former President Rodrigo Duterte, responsible for the massacre of 6 thousand or possibly 30 thousand according to media reports.
Understandably, many are opposed to these hearings. First, these congressional investigations, they say, do not cost peanuts. These can range from tens of thousands to a hundred thousand of taxpayers’ money per day. Secondly, based on past experiences, many of these protracted hearings in the end amount to nothing, except, of course, giving politicians excessive time for grandstanding. Others point out that these investigations have become avenues for political vendetta or for settling political scores with one’s enemies. Duterte’s super majority party, for instance, ran after and humiliated former Senator Leila de Lima who in her previous capacity as Human Rights Commissioner had looked into Duterte’s human rights record in Davao.
On the other hand, members of Congress insist that it is their constitutional duty to hold these hearings, firstly, to aid them in their work of legislation. These hearings as it were are their way of doing research and ascertaining Philippine realities in order that they can craft much-needed laws for the country. Secondly, especially in the case of the budget hearings, Congress has oversight function. It is tasked for instance to review how Government is spending every centavo in the national budget.
Significantly, however, it now appears that these hearings also serve a very critical function in this tumultuous time when democracies seem to be in retreat and authoritarian and populist governments are on the rise. In his book, “Defeating the Dictators: How democracy can prevail in the age of the strongman (2023),” political analyst Charles Dunst argues that many democracies today are discredited because their constituents feel there is very little accountability in government. Corruption is rampant and officials get away with impunity. The central issue then and the cause for the fall of many democratic governments is trust. And just as Abraham Lincoln before pointed out that government stands on public opinion, Dunst now says that no democracy can survive in the long run without the trust of the public. He writes: “Trust is vital to state and societal functionality, particularly in democracies. For a democracy to be successful, people need to trust the government; if they don’t, they will become more likely to vote into power those demagogues seeking to shake the system to its core…democratic counties around the world are experiencing a trust crisis. Our institutions have failed people for far too long and now, people no longer trust their leaders.” The figures he cites in his book are staggering. In the US, for instance, only 2 percent of people say they trust Washington “to do what is right just about always.” It is the same in the United Kingdom where “almost two-thirds of Brits said that politicians were merely out for themselves, rather than serving to help their constituents.” In France, “46 percent of French citizens believe that most politicians are corrupt, around 58 percent say that elected officials do not care what ordinary people think.” In Greece, “less than 20 percent of Greeks today have confidence in their national government.” And in Spain, “94 percent of Spaniards believe corruption to be widespread.” Dunst concludes: “without trust, democracy is at risk.” “Without trust in government,” he says, there would be “little agreement on truth,” resulting in little “collective action.” And in crisis moments, such as in war or other emergencies, people certainly need to trust their leaders and their government. But as the Pandemic has shown, democracies were the worst hit because people no longer believed in their governments. In the US, for example, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories prevented the government from carrying out its emergency health program. Undoubtedly, Dunst says, “distrust can doom democracy.”
If the current spate of congressional investigations then aims to bring back accountability in government and shore up the trust of the Filipino people in their leaders, these certainly deserve a hearing from every citizen. No matter the cost. They are not mere sideshows or roadside attractions to entertain us. They are serious, even sacred, undertakings. For on these arduous and laborious political exercises may yet lay the very survival of our democracy.
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