Senator Pia S. Cayetano's interjection
Sen. Francis Tolentino's privilege speech on IRRs
14 Sept. 2020

Thank you, Mr. President, Majority Floor Leader.

I just like to also share my thoughts on this. The problem that we face is there's actually a Supreme Court ruling that says that legislators cannot get involved in the rulemaking process.

This was a Supreme Court decision. I am trying to look for it, but I don't have it as of now. It just came out a few years back, in my early days in the Senate. And that's why prior to that, we would always be invited when the agency in charge has their... conducts their sessions and consultations for the rules with the stakeholders.

After that, we would be invited sometimes, and they would specifically say, "Guests only. You're not part of the rulemaking, guests only because it will violate the Supreme Court rule on that."

So I also found that very difficult because tayo naman ang gumawa ng batas. So it's so difficult that we are actually prevented. So that's one limitation that we face as of now. And then, I also want to support the statements made earlier by the Senate President and our other colleagues that I've also found many times that there's this attitude or tendency to say, "Sa rules na lang yan." But the problem with that is it is actually in violation of our law making obligation.

When it's too vague... It's one thing that if clear na nga yung law, ginulo pa nung mga agencies. That's totally a violation. And as the sponsor has mentioned, this has been struck down by the Supreme Court. But there are instances where intentionally or not, it tends to be vague, rule naman talaga ng Supreme Court to interpret, pero minsan, doon papasok si agency at nagpipilit bigyan ng interpretation, and we have to be cautious of that because many times, even in bicam, I would point out that let's make it clear.

Dahil kung tayo, hindi tayo magkakaintindihan, lalong hindi magkakaintindihan diyan sa rules. So we just have to be disciplined to be clear about our legislative intent. And so this is... I welcome this privilege speech of our colleague from Cavite because it's very timely and it will really save us effort and time for the long run.

Thank you, Mr. President.