Lapid and his School Bags Law

Mona Lisa senator, Lito Lapid, passed a bill prohibiting the overloading of the school children's bags. Numbered as Senate Bill 2179, the bill proposes to

limit the maximum load of schoolbags to 15 percent of a student’s body weight. Schools should provide weighing scales to implement this regulation. He also proposed that schools provide more lockers and buy thinner and lighter textbooks.

The reason: Lapid doesn't want other kids to experience what he did when he carried heavy woods and sugarcane in his younger years that instead of growing 5 feet 11 inches, he only grew 5' 9".

Lapid's bill was countered by DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro saying there is no need for a law on that. Nasa discretion na yan ng mga magulang at siyempre, ng school officials. Which is correct. Dahil sa kakulangan ng school buildings at teachers, kailangang wala nang uwian at tapusin na nang mga bata from 6AM to 12NN ang kanilang mga subjects na dapat ay from 8AM to 11AM, at 1PM to 5PM. Ibig sabihin, kailangang dalhin nila ang kanilang mga gamit at wala nang uwian para ma-maximize ang oras.

Sa halip sana na schoolbags overloading ang tinumbok ng kawawang senador, nagpasa na sana siya ng batas na mage-ensure ng quality education sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng: tamang oras at hindi long shifts, dagdag na school rooms at hindi lang lockers, matino at kumpletong mga textbooks hindi panipisan ngunit walang kalidad na laman, at de-kalidad na mga guro. Siyempre, dapat gumawa rin siya ng batas na nagtatakda ng dagdag na pondo para sa edukasyon.

At sana rin, sa halip na schoolbags ang tinumbok ng kawawang senador, sana yung batas na lang na nagtatakda ng matinong employee performance evaluation system at automatic kick out policy sa mga nagtatrabaho sa gobyerno na may poor performance. Lalong lalo na sa mga teacher sa rural areas na ang ginagawa sa mga estudyante nila ay pinapag-linis ng bakuran ng paaralan at pinapag-bunot ng damo. At ang pinakasimple, sana nagpasa rin siya sa ethics committee ng Senado ng resolution na ang mga Senador na kakaunti o kaya walang quality na naipasang bills ay bigyan ng parusa sa pamamagitan ng pagkaltas sa kanilang suweldo at pag-a-allocate ng pera para sa mga paaralan.


Kaso, kawawa talaga itong si Senador. Kung feeling niya kulang pa rin siya sa height, mas matindi ang kakulangan niya sa buhay: talino o kahit common sense para makagawa naman siya ng isang makabuluhang batas.

Lapid as the most productive senator?

After the stormy days and unholy nights caused by the NBN deal and the scandals rocking the administration, another joke calmed the nerves. No, it was not the lies sholtage of Gloria Arroyo. It's about the Senator Lito Lapid whom everybody thought had resigned or had gone into seclusion after they lost their political territory in Pampanga to Fr. Ed Panlilio.

And the joke? Lapid is the seventh most productive in the Senate!

Ugh!@#$@#$@grrzzztt%&*@kzzzzztttt!!!!

[Sorry. Tikboy just spilled some coffee on his keypad.]

Pero kakatawa yun ah? Ang hindi lang po nakakatawa, totoo yun. Sabi ng Inquirer.net, Lapid was absent for only two sessions since the Congress opened last July 2007, and ranked seventh in terms of the bills filed.

Sabi ni Doy: HUWWWAATTTT????

Papaano nangyari yun? Almost everybody was noisy during the Senate hearings that even Dinggol, este, Jinggoy Estrada honed his tongue in English and Tagalog. And Madrigal? She had a verbal battle with other senators that she even dared to bring the issue of Commission on Appointments' composition at the Supreme Court. Pero si Lapid? He was silent as a lamb, di ba? So how come?

Sabi ng staff ni Lapid, silent worker lang ang senator. As a matter of fact, after the roll call and the national anthem, he would exercise seclusion by going to the Senators' Lounge otherwise he would break his vow of silence.

But if that is his ritual, paano siya naging most productive? How was he able to "pass the bills" without sponsoring it? To note, to sponsor a bill one must declare it publicly by addressing the "Mr. (Senate) President" so that it will be recorded and referred to the committee. Di ba most productive siya? Or the meaning of "pass the bill" is just soooo literal that he just gave it (pass) to another senator?

Well, this is funny. And in times like this, we need some funny stories to calm our nerves. Pero teka... is this still funny? We are angry with Gloria for the un-glorious issues of mal-administration and corruption. And here is Lapid, earning his salary from our taxes, ang pinaghirapan at pinagpawisang buwis. Tapos wala namang nagagawa? Hmmmnnnn...