The Parliamentary System's Garbage Disposal

Does this truck look appealing to you? I thought about it that under a parliamentary system -- these guys wouldn't last long. One can imagine of Noynoy Aquino as the deposed prime minister, Franklin Drilon as the deposed House Speaker, Kim Henares as a deposed minister of revenues, Dinky Soliman as the deposed Minister of Social Development, Etta Rosales as the deposed Minister of Human Rights and the others are deposed Senators (no Congressmen) in the parliament. So how does the parliamentary system help get rid of them more efficiently and effectively? 

The difference of the framework of the parliamentary system is that there's a two-way discussion between two sides. The government has both the Majority Bloc (actual government) and the Minority Bloc (opposition part of the government) to serve as scrutiny towards each other. You can think of the following cases where Opposition Senators and Shadow Ministers could scrutinize them so they can do a better job. Can you imagine what if all those in the garbage truck were scrutinized at a daily basis? They would have been gone by now.

Do you remember the anti-charter change rally that happened during the term of House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? The whole issue of the Yellows is that popularity not credibility is what runs their democracy. Sadly, any kind of democracy that runs with a mindset like the Yellows may be closer to anarcho-Communism -- a view that believes in the abolition of authority and capitalism. This is very much opposed to a healthy democracy which is a government that respects and hears the views of both the majority and the minority. A parliamentary system would easily get rid of the fashion show politics -- in short it would really start reducing the phenomenon where actors and athletes who KNOW NOTHING about politics and economics from becoming members of the Parliament.

The frequent engaging in debates and scrutiny from both sides will expose who's competent and who's incompetent within the whole parliament more easily than in the presidential system. That means there's no real room for sleeping. Let's say that Drilon right now is in the Opposition side of the parliament. Can you imagine what if he was called by Speaker of the House Arroyo to wake up and stop sleeping during a parliamentary debate? If Drilon were the Speaker of the House then can you imagine that he has to listen to everyone within the parliament and that he can get voted out if he does a bad job? 

Also cluelessness will not be allowed as politicians will have to answer or members of the parliament may lose their confidence on them. A good example would be how Chito Gascon as the Minister of Human Rights can be scrutinized by a Shadow Minister of Human Rights. Did you know that he has misappropriated tax money for expensive training seminars when they could have been done in more affordable venues? He would have to be held accountable for his really poor performance. He has been showing more isngs that he's willing to defend criminals over the victims even when he's supposed to be the Minister of Human Rights. People like him and Etta Rosales would have been easily dumped out from their position at the Commission on Human Rights.

It can also mean that there's no more room for absenteeism for Deputy Prime Minister Leni Loud Robredo Not only does she have to account for her trip expenses but also for her claims to achievements. She isn't just on standby if she's a Deputy Prime Minister. She would have to really sit down and debate. She would have very little time for yoga in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Her poor attendance in her job can go against her record resulting to a vote of no confidence against her office. She would be yanked out and she would no longer be Deputy Prime Minister due to her poor performance.

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In short, the parliamentary system is always about scrutiny. The problem of the presidential system is not the absence of scrutiny but the lack of it. The parliamentary garbage truck is put to better use because of better scrutiny. The presidential garbage truck will get underused because of a lack of scrutiny.