I have never been a fan of Lito Lapid, as an actor, and all the more as a senator. I did not vote for him in 2004. And my reasons for not voting him were very much validated when the media ran a story on him a few months after he got elected. The senator was complaining about not getting advanced copies of his colleagues’ speeches, which he would ask his staff to translate first to Filipino from English before he actually went to the floor.
Not to mention, he hasn’t been much help as fiscalizer in the very crucial hearings over the past four years — at least the really controversial ones.
But I would really give him credit now because after four years, he has finally been able to see the approval in the upper house of his own bill, the Proposed Legal Assistance Act of 2008. The bill, which Lapid is the Principal Author of will give tax perks to private law firms that render free legal assistance or services to the poor.
Surely, if the bill were to be implemented well and if our good lawyers help out, the bill would be good in closing the gap between the rich and poor, who many times, are deprived of justice. Kaya marahil, makikita na rin natin sa telebisyon at pelikula na ang mga mararalita, magagaling na rin ang mga abogado! Haha!
I would even say that this time, Lapid has outsmarted his colleagues, many of whom are not just lawyers, but are superstars (divas?) in the legal world. It makes one wonder why they had never thought of such an idea before.
Let’s hope that the House of Representatives will pass its counterpart bill with urgency, and hope that the Palace would follow suit by certifying the bill as urgent. This should perhaps be Lapid’s job now — to campaign for the bill’s approval.
While it still took the man four years to get a single bill approved, credit has to be given. At least we have a lawmaker who has not (yet) preoccupied himself with making brand endorsements in the media to prepare for the presidency in 2010, while claiming that nothing is illegal with such actions [It may not be illegal, they still are employed by taxpayers to render their service full time and without any distractions. This of course, is another story.]
Such poor taste from other lawmakers is turning out to be like Lapid’s flop film bio on our first hero, Lapu Lapu. And twice the stench of the actual fish.