Former NEDA chief Philip Medalla once observed that if we just took 300 names at random from the phone book, we are likely to come up with a better Congress. Philip may think he is exaggerating to emphasize a point but he is certainly up to something there. That’s sad.

It is obvious that Congress, as we now know it, is a pigsty. They are there theoretically to represent the people in the crafting of laws. But as the pork barrel issue showed, they are more interested in their own porcine interests, with my sincere apologies to pigs for insulting them in the analogy.

The thought occurred to me that the time has come to consider abolishing Congress altogether. Consider the money we will save… P25 billion on pork barrel funds for next year; Senate budget of about P3 billion; House outlay of P6.248 billion.

Of the senators’ P3 billion, P1.591 billion will be for salaries, while P1.407 billion will be for maintenance, operating and other expenses (MOOE). Of the congressmen’s P6.248 billion for next year, P3.060 billion will be for salaries, while P3.138 will be for MOOE and P50 million for capital outlay (procurement of equipment, building renovation and the like).

Note how much more their pork budget is compared to their operating budgets, which are not insignificant too. Surely we have better uses for the over P30 billion we spend on the perks and upkeep of all those senators and congressmen. And for what? Just so we can say we have what looks like a representative democracy?

In our daily lives, if the cost of maintaining a service, in this case lawmaking, can no longer be justified by the output or is more trouble than it is worth, it is a no-brainer to just scrap the service. It makes no sense putting more good money after bad… Experience over the years has shown that for Congress, we get nothing of value for our money and no hope for improvement in the future.

Of course it is not easy as that. We have a Constitution which calls for a Congress. We can amend the Constitution to abolish it but what do we do for a replacement? We can call it a Parliament but if we elect the same people anyway, we get the same disappointing results.

Besides, our government is supposed to be democratic and in a democracy, we need representatives of the people setting policy and safeguarding citizen rights. The fact that we get representathieves instead is beside the point. A Congress or a Parliament is a necessary evil unless we want a dictatorship or a monarchy. Even China has a make believe National People’s Congress.

I feel a strange yearning for a Lee Kuan Yew with a parliament that’s practically an extension of himself. I realize that’s not very democratic but if we get a leader who is good and has the ability to govern and deliver progress, why not? I know it is a big IF. With our luck, we got a Marcos with the same powers as Lee Kuan Yew and only the Swiss banks benefited.

Maybe we need to change the manner of electing legislators. Maybe Philip Medalla is right. Let the National Statistics  and Census Office and the UP statisticians devise a sampling method that chooses representatives in various districts. The person selected must serve a term of three years. Cheaper than an election and no vote buying…

Those chosen must serve as a civic duty the way citizens serve on juries in the US… or a military draft. It promises a more participative democracy. We may also get officials who see public office as a chance to serve rather than as a career or a chance to attain riches. No need for pork barrel funds because no political debts to pay to constituents.

I get the feeling that election by random sampling may prove more democratic than voting. There will be no political dynasty because everyone has a chance to be chosen… informal settlers and Forbes Park residents get an equal chance. But don’t let Smartmatic program the computer that will do the random selection. Haha!

It is time to use statistics and technology to fix our horrible election system that has produced mostly crooks all these years. We will still get some crooks in the computerized sampling approach but that’s all up to chance. In elections, there is little chance the good guys can win. The computerized sampling approach will equalize the chances and elect non professional politicians who will only serve one term.

Of course I am dreaming of an alternative system knowing it has no chance of happening. But we need to talk about it because we need a new system now. Indeed, I decided to revise this column after I submitted it because Senate President Drilon just said, likely out of sarcasm, that we should just abolish Congress if we strip it of all its pork. Hmm… looks like my idea isn’t that outlandish after all.

And let us abolish the Senate. Whatever reforms we undertake in our system of government, we don’t need a Senate, at least not in the way we know it today. And in the meantime, the senators must not be entitled to any form of pork. Good to know that 15 senators already said they will remain pork free, at least for the meantime.

Senators are supposed to have a national constituency but we have a Sen. Angara (the father) who used up his pork to benefit Baler town and Aurora province, not to mention his own foundations. Angara fails to realize that even if he got a unanimous vote in Aurora province, he won’t be elected a senator without the rest of us. It is the same thing for Ralph Recto who used quite a large share of his pork on Batangas.

The other reform that ought to be instituted has to do with Presidential and vice presidential pork. P-Noy and Jojobama must lead by example. It would be nice to see P-Noy ordering both the Malampaya Fund and the Pagcor Social Fund to be deposited to the National Treasury and subject to appropriation by Congress.

In the meantime, the citizens must be told how the Malampaya Fund had been spent through the years. From 2001 to 2012, the Shell-Chevron Malampaya Consortium has turned over to the government some $6.5 billion. PNOC also got its share amounting to $400 million. $6.5-B + $0.4-B = $6.9-B ÷ 11 years = $627-M/year  P27.5-B/yr. That’s a lot of money!

And while they are at it, there is a need to be truthful about intelligence funds. That’s what they call sizable amounts of money whose expenditures they don’t want to be audited.

One of the reasons people were incensed enough to go to Luneta last Monday is because time is running out. If P-Noy cannot be depended upon to do what is right about pork, it is unlikely his successor will do it. P-Noy is the most honest person we have elected and probably would elect in a long time. That is why he must use his political capital to reform the system and no turning back.

P-Noy has nothing to lose by totally abolishing pork. If Congress retaliates by refusing to work with him, P-Noy can at least remain true to himself and the people whose hopes and dreams for a corruption free government rest upon him.

We cannot abolish Congress any time soon, even if that is the right and logical thing to do. But we can, through a braver P-Noy, force Congress to be more financially accountable to the people.

P-Noy should not worry about being a lame duck president if that is what’s keeping him from doing the right thing. He should worry about history and what it will say about him if he falters on this moral issue. He wouldn’t want future generations of Filipinos to learn from their history books that P-Noy had the chance to reform decades of wrongs but he hesitated and did nothing.

And one last thing… P-Noy should do an honest to goodness housecleaning just to make sure there aren’t more cockroaches in the inner sanctum of Malacañang. They found one, a PR consultant of Napoles working for the Executive Secretary. There are likely to be others. Seek them out, Mr. President or face the danger of internal rot destroying the moral foundations of your Presidency.

Pork by any other name

ABS-CBN News reporter Lynda Jumilla decided to crowdsource via Twitter possible names for the new pork barrel scheme after the P-Noy announced PDAF is no more. Here are three of my favorites.

National Assistance Program of Lawmakers Engaged in Service (NAPOLES)

 Lawmakers Initiative for Emergency, Miscellaneous and Personal Outlay (LIEMPO)

Livelihood Empowerment for Countrywide Humanitarian Outlay Network (LECHON)!”

DEMAND AND SUPPLY is Boo Chanco’s column in the Philippine Star. E-mail the author at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco.