In response to the public clamor that Senator Ronald dela Rosa should not be receiving his salary for his continued absence at the Senate ever since Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued a warrant for his arrest in November, Senate President Vicente Sotto III has urged the public to file an ethics complaint because a “no work, no pay” policy does not apply to either chamber of Congress.
“No, there are no rules like that for legislators. (None in) any of our rules or even in the Constitution,” Sotto told reporters when asked if senators who fail to attend sessions should forfeit their salary.
Because of Dela Rosa’s absence, finance committee chair Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian was forced to defend the budget of the Department of National Defense, a task assigned to the former.
Asked whether Dela Rosa – who has been absent for nearly a month – continues to receive his salary, Sotto pushed back, saying the senator had only been absent for about three weeks, while some lawmakers at the House of Representatives have not been reporting for a year.
He also confirmed that the absent senator has not communicated with colleagues and that he has yet to formally submit a letter explaining his absence.
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, who also went into hiding for a year in 2010 to escape arrest for the Dacer-Corbito double murder case, said he had spoken with Dela Rosas a few weeks back, but said that he cannot advise on the matter because he’s been there and done that.
It is true that neither the Constitution nor Congress has rules for absentee and generally useless legislators, maybe because back then, its framers wrongly assumed that public officials would be persons with integrity and delicadeza, or that voters would be discerning enough to ensure that the halls of both houses of Congress are filled with men and women of quality.
It would have been so much more simpler if Dela Rosa just went on a leave of absence, citing fear of the long arm of the ICC as the reason, and then righteously declare that he would forfeit his salary and allowances during the period that he is unable to fulfill his mandate as a ranking public official in the country.
Instead, the Filipino people are left wondering, not where a missing Senator is, but whether we are still shouldering the salary that is being collected but not earned. How many more such cases do we tolerate before our so-called representatives can enact a common-sense law that automatically docks the salaries of absentee colleagues?*
