Senators must not only introduce brilliant ideas to craft a law but must also have good relationships with other legislators, UniTeam senatorial candidate Harry Roque said.
Roque, a former congressman, said having brilliant ideas alone would not be enough in the Senate for a bill to be enacted into law.
“Kahit gaano ka brilliant ang ideas mo, hindi uusad ang iyong mga panukalang batas kung hindi mabuti ang relasyon mo sa iyong mga kasamahan (No matter how brilliant your ideas are, your bills will not progress if you do not have good relationships with your colleagues),” he said in a news release on Monday.
“Talagang consensus-building ‘yan. Kinakailangan napakabuti ng relasyon mo sa mga kasama mo para ‘pag meron ka ng panukalang batas na dini-discuss sa plenaryo, alam mong maraming susuporta sayo (That’s really consensus-building. You need to have a very good relationship with your colleagues so that ‘when you have a bill being discussed in plenary, you know many will support you),” he added.
During his short stint in the House of Representatives in 2017, Roque filed over 200 bills, and 10 of these were enacted into law.
Roque authored landmark legislations such as the Universal Health Care, national AIDS law, and free irrigation law.
Roque said he believed that filing the bill in the Senate would be “more manageable” as it has fewer lawmakers.
“Ang tingin ko baka nga mas madali dito sa Senado (I think it is easier in the Senate) because you only have 23 other people to deal with and I think it is more manageable,” he said.
Source: Philippines News Agency
