A Philippine government system defect and the disadvantage of bicameralism

“As of 2011, more than 20 countries had bicameral legislatures. Many other countries have unicameral legislatures, which consist of single legislative houses. The term "bicameral" comes from Latin and combines bi, which means "two", with camera, which means "chamber." "Unicameral" substitutes uni, or "one," for bi. “ (wisegeek.org)

The legislative branch of government comprises of two chambers; the senate and the house of the representatives. The Senate is composed of twenty four senators, half of which are elected every three years and serve a total of six years. They do no not represent any geographical district.

The House of Representatives is composed of a maximum of 250 congressmen. There are two types of congressmen: the district and the sectoral representatives. The district congressmen represent a particular geographical district of the country. All provinces in the country are composed of at least one congressional district. Several cities also have their own congressional districts, with some composed of two or more representatives.

The sectoral congressmen represent the minority sectors of the population. This enables these minority groups to be represented in the Congress, when they would otherwise not be represented properly through district representation. Also known as party-list representatives, sectoral congressmen represent labor unions, rights groups, and other organizations.

The Constitution provides that the Congress shall assemble for its regular session every year beginning on the 4th Monday of July. A regular session can last until thirty days before the opening of its next regular session in the succeeding year. The President may, however, call special sessions which are usually held between regular legislative sessions to handle emergencies or urgent matters.

Based on an article in wisegeek.org, “Some political scientists believe that having a bicameral legislature makes meaningful political reforms more difficult to achieve and increases the risk of deadlock. This risk is greater in cases when both chambers have equal powers. Other political analysts argue strongly for the merits of the checks and balances that are provided by the bicameral model, which they believe helps prevent ill-considered legislation from being passed into law.”

The main disadvantage often stated against bicameral legislature is the amount of time it takes for legislation to be passed through each chamber to become law. Many people feel that two chambers debating the same topic delays the lawmaking process and is a waste of resources and money and this has led to dissatisfaction with the system.

Is redistribution unfair to rich and unemployed citizens?

Equality of condition, as defined by Ricardo Tocqueville, is the “ability of any individual to have an equal opportunity at achieving success or upward movement in society. Through hard work, and good character, a person will certainly alleviate his current social standing. Equality of condition is harmless, since it attempts to give everyone the same opportunity of what another man has in changing his current social situation.

An example of an evidence of the existence of Equal Condition was during the first years of Europeans colonizing the Americas. The “New Americans” were limited of their titles, positions or aristocratic orders. They were free to engage in art, commerce and literature without any criticism or any government interruptions. The people were free to work in an attempt to move upward in society. This was only possible because they had no titles or inheritances carried over from Europe “the old world”.

This however, is not the case in the modern days. In the Philippines, financial capacity, titles, positions or social status play an important role in what a person could achieve during his or her lifetime. Equality of condition, is nonexistent

The government’s proposal of redistribution of income, as they cited, is the government’s attempt to promote or regulate “equal condition” in the country. This is where a portion of the income of all employed persons, may be rich or part of the working class, is to be taxed away as mandatory to be evenly distributed to the unemployed. However good this may result, as a form charitable tax and compulsory “donation”, this form of policy does not promote equal condition, for equal condition means fair opportunities are given to both rich and poor, and does not involve obligating the working class people, to give away the money that they have worked hard, while the unemployed wait for subsidy.

However, as logical people, we do not have to close our minds, let us give this policy a chance of being amended according to the culture of the Philippines. In normal taxation, special taxes are being regulated when taxpayers are registered through application and mandated depending on the annual revenue they have incurred. This can also be applied with the proposed redistribution policy. For instance, in the Value added tax rules, businesses are only required to require VAT tax if their annual income has a minimum of Php 1 500,000 or if they have any proof that they will incur Php 1 500,00 for the year (like collectibles and payables to the firm).

This type of system could be adapted, or any other amendments that does not affect taking money from the working class so as not to cause further speculations on the government’s capacity to formulate rules essential to the development of the nation.

Aside from making poor people lazy, the original proposal would only produce more people, in a sense that they would only wait for money to come to them, they will lose their pride and sense of empowerment. Understudied policies will certainly cause certain arguments, especially when it puts another group of individuals at stake at losing even a part of their already reduced income. Regulation of redistribution is certainly unfair to the employed citizens, however, for me, taxation can be implemented to the rich who has so much to give without sacrificing much.