Well, what can I say? In recess was in recess.
Which is not to say I’ve not been a congressman while Congress was not in session. Here, in the Philippines, a congressman is expected to take on the schizophrenic roles of legislator and (I guess) local executive, who should be not only filing bills on behalf of his constituents, but actually paying their bills of an entirely different kind.
I mean, at least in Congress, a bill goes through three readings. Outside of it, a congressman is expected to approve, say, a hospital bill, without first reading it.
But who’s complaining? When we claim to speak for a constituency, we try to take care of its needs. I’d rather be saddled with all these requests than claim to speak for a constituency for which I haven’t done anything. I am a member of Congress, after all. Not the Black and White Movement.
Does that make me a traditional politician? If the opposite of traditional is Leah Navarro or Enteng Romano — who claim to speak for people whose calloused hands they haven’t touched — then I certainly hope so. To them I say — moderate your creed. . . with a little action.
