"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
Shakespeare’s "Julius Caesar"

CONGRESSIONAL investigations going nowhere, and public hearings in aid of publicity have effectively eclipsed and sidelined the 23rd anniversary of the EDSA I revolution of February 22-25, 1986.

One of the legacies of the 1986 People Power was not only the restoration of democracy from 20 years of Marcos authoritarianism but also the restoration of a Philippine Senate and House of Representatives of pre-martial law image, structure, outlook and behavior to the chagrin of the Filipino people.

First, contrary to people’s aspirations and expectations, the EDSA revolt did not succeed in bringing about a moral regeneration and a new order of society in the Philippines.

What EDSA had expedited was the revival and return of the "ancien regime" and corruption of pre-martial law politics, fraudulent elections, vote buying, political patronage, pork barrel, and Congressional probes proving nothing and public hearings in aid of publicity.

After 23 years, the Filipino people have a Congress that is increasingly irrelevant and redundant with a membership profile that leaves much to be desired.

Second, after 23 years of so-called democracy, there is not much to show by way of landmark legislations and moral ascendancy from the creation of and consistent mismanagement of sequestered assets of the Marcos regime by the PCGG, to maritime disasters, to environmental destruction, to unethical behavior of members of Congress and civil servants, to recent phenomena, such as, the ZTE-NBN fiasco, the fertilizer scam, the Northrail, fixing of foreign-funded public biddings of infrastructure projects as exposed HECTOR

by the World Bank, which is really common knowledge, to persistent attempts of associating and involving the First Family to every conceivable projects that are deemed anomalous or suspicious.

Third, for these reasons, the current political system of patronage, dynasties, politics of personality, oligopolies, and underachieving Congress all do not augur well for Philippine democracy.

That is, the politics of today is the epitome of the evils of too much democratic license, a weak Republic, propensity to corrupt, and a magnet to leftist and Muslim insurgencies.

When all is said and done, the tragic-comic configuration of the Senate, and youthful and inexperienced siblings in the House of Representatives, and the travails of the Executive Department, and the slow grind of the Judiciary, all combine to give the Philippines a negative image, a reputation for corruption, a roller-coaster economic performance, lack of homogeneity of purpose, and vision.

Something, sooner than later, has to give. Thus, complacency and congressional indifference provide the stimulus and magnet to tyranny.

You be the judge. (For comments and views, please e-mail: chaff_fromthegrain@yahoo.com.ph)