Legislators can dress up in expensive threads if they want to, but if taxpayers are footing the bill, that’s a different story.
An official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said it was the lawmakers’ call if they want to wear designer clothes for the opening of Congress as long as they charge the cost of their dresses to their own pocket. “I don’t see any problem with it,” said CBCP secretary general Msgr. Joselito Asis in an interview with reporters.
“Anyway it’s all a show,” he continued, in reference to some remarks that the annual State of the Nation Address has devolved into something like a fashion show with the way lawmakers paraded their clothes.
The priest was asked about his thoughts on Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago’s proposal for Congress to implement a “uniform” during the inaugural joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Santiago expressed her disdain for the red-carpet treatment on Monday’s SONA where lawmakers seemingly hit the ramp with their choice of clothes. She then filed a bill which prescribes a “SONA” uniform for lawmakers.
Asis acknowledged the intention of the proposal but said it might not be practical to pursue.
“If government plans to have a uniform, who are you going to charge that? That’s going to be another expense for the government,” he said. “It will have a provision in the budget if you want uniform that means it becomes official.”
The priest suggested a closer scrutiny of lawmakers’ expenses to determine whether the clothes they’ve been using during the SONA were being charged to their respective legislative budgets.
Maybe it would be better if some lawmakers “pursued those who bought their clothes” using taxpayers’ money, he said.–MM
