OVERCROWDED POWER TRIP

May 3, 2025 Opinion

As the nation awaits the outcome of the May 12 midterm elections to determine the next set of elected officials, a fresh three years for most of the winners from local councilor up to congresspersons and six years for senators, we can only hope that they make good their promise to serve the people as public servants. Because we suppose that is the reason and motive why they ran and became politicians in the first
place. Of course we would also be deluding ourselves to even believe that all of these supposed public servants have it in their heart the welfare of the people whom they should serve. For a lot of them really they want to run and be elected as a public official for a taste of the
power that the office offers.

There is nothing like being in command and having the authority to order others to do your bidding. It was Henry Alfred Kissinger, an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th national
security advisor from 1969 to 1975, serving under presidents’ Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford who came up with the statement that “power is an aphrodisiac”. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who was one of the most influential of all modern thinkers posited the idea of what he termed as ‘will to power’. He believed that the basic driving force of human behavior is “a relentless pursuit of power and
dominance. Xxx power is not just an external force that attracts and seduces us, but an intrinsic quality that resides within each individual.

It is an expression of our inherent desire to assert ourselves, to overcome obstacles, and to shape our own destinies.” He then concludes that power is not merely an aphrodisiac but is an intrinsic and fundamental aspect of human existence. But lest those who will be reading this will think what has power got to do with the title of this column which is “overcrowded”, well let’s look at the present situation of our
Congress of the Republic of the Philippines particularly that of the lower house where our elected congresspersons reside. At present the House of Representatives has 253 district representatives representing legislative districts while 65 representatives represent so called party-lists.

Originally the 1987 Constitution provided for a maximum of 200 congressional districts or 80 percent of the maximum 250 seats for the lower house and the remaining 50 seats or 20 percent allotted for the sectoral or party-list representatives. Right now, because of revisions
by the enactment of laws to create more districts as provided by R.A. 7160 otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991 there
are already 318 legislative seats up for grabs in the May 12 midterm elections. Don’t you think it’s already a bit overcrowded in the lower house in Congress? Isn’t it a bit too much already to have so many congresspersons representing so many sectors in society that we are no longer sure what sector they really represent, do they even represent a sector or is it really and simply all about having power.

If there will ever be an amendment to the 1987 Philippine Constitution then one major overhaul would be to delete that specific portion in
paragraph 2 Section 5 of Article VI which provides that the party-list representatives shall constitute 20% of the total number of the House of Representatives. Those responsible for drafting the Philippine Constitution might now be having second thoughts, those still breathing
of course, on why they even entertained the idea of having a party-list system in the country. Shouldn’t it have been enough to have representatives from each legislative district without having to include and add representation for those so caller under-represented and
marginalized sectors of society. Isn’t it obvious that these under-represented and marginalized sectors are found in the very legislative districts already represented by district representatives?

If these under-represented and marginalized sectors cannot be properly served and represented by their district representatives in their
legislative districts then these representatives should be replaced in the next elections because they should represent everybody in the district which they represent. This is like saying that in a particular legislative district its representative is not capable and effective as a public servant and public official, hence the need to add representatives to represent other groups of people within that legislative district. Because where else would these under-represented and marginalized sectors come from if not from these very same legislative districts.

So think about it. After the May 12 elections we will have so many congresspersons sitting in the lower house not only presenting legislative districts but also ostensibly other marginalized sectors of society. They can interpret it all they want but in the lower house, and even in other public offices as well, we have people masquerading as public servants but are really just hungry for power and are looking out only for their own selfish vested interests.