The Congress of the Philippines is the citadel of the Senate and House of Representatives, where its prime and foremost duty is to make, change, alter or repeal laws; its seat is a manifestation that the Philippines is a republican state. With the view that the Congress is the law-making body of the Philippines, it can create a formidable law that could stand for a hundred years or abolish an existing legislation that ceases to serve its purpose. Notwithstanding its character as a legislative body, it is endowed with an investigative character with no other purpose but to wield a law that will foster and strengthen the foundation the Republic.
The constitutional basis of legislative inquiry is found under Article VI Section 21 of the Philippine Constitution, whereby it declares that “The Senate and 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.” In others words, the legislators commit such constitutional provision as a license to invite resource speakers in order to shed light to any issue that would affect the national policy.
However, it has now lost its character, much more its objective, when elected officials, under the guise of legislative inquiry, maliciously impute crimes, accuses the invited guest with felonies of enormous magnitude, and harass them with words unimaginable to be described. It has now been an aid to prosecute the resource speaker by public trial with the absence of due process, and with no proper jurisdiction. The investigative body has lost its sight that the rights of the person appearing before them must be respected. The Senate and the House of representative have committed a blunder in the system of government.
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