Senate Scrutiny, Educational Background

A month prior the inauguration of the newly elected senators of the Republic of the Philippines, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) released another laudable research  which tackles all our honorable senators' highest educational attainment. For my personal viewpoint, the findings were quite comforting as majority of the members of the senate have degrees that are advantageous for legislative purposes. However, the findings of the research itself can't put us to ease and ask "is this the best of what our country could offer?"

Let me share to you the summary of the report from PCIJ:

Senators Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Joseph ‘Chiz’ Escudero, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Grace Poe-Llamanzares, and Joseph Victor ‘JV’ Ejercito were all political science majors.

Senators Gregorio ‘Gringo’ Honasan II, Juan Edgardo ‘Sonny’ Angara, Pilar Juliana ‘Pia’ Cayetano, Teofisto ‘TG’ Guingona III, and Jose ‘Jinggoy’ Estrada took up economics.

Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Franklin Drilon earned degrees in the arts, while Senators Cynthia Villar, Ralph Recto, and Paolo Benigno ‘Bam’ Aquino IV studied business administration, commerce, and management engineering, respectively.

Senator Lorna Regina ‘Loren’ Legarda took up broadcast communication while Senator Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III majored in English.

Senators Antonio ‘Sonny’ Trillanes IV and Ma. Lourdes Nancy Binay-Angeles, meanwhile, earned degrees in engineering and tourism, respectively.

Senators Sergio ‘Serge’ Osmena III took up various courses, but did not finish. Senators Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla Jr. and Manuel ‘Lito’ Lapid did not obtain college degrees as well.

Nearly half or 10 of the 24 senators were Iskolar ng Bayan, or graduates of the University of the Philippines with a bachelor’s degree. They are Binay, Alan and Pia Cayetano, Drilon, Escudero, Estrada, Honasan, Legarda, Villar, and Santiago. Poe also took up Development Studies for two years at UP Manila.

Four senators — Aquino, Enrile, Guingona, and Pimentel — earned their undergraduate degrees from the Ateneo de Manila University.

Ejercito and Recto earned their college degree from De La Salle University (DLSU).

Trillanes also studied at DLSU but obtained his engineering degree at the Philippine Military Academy. Sotto, meanwhile, studied at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila.

Angara, Marcos, and Poe studied abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Oxford University, and Boston College, respectively.

We all know the executive-legislative relationship aids the development of the country, that the laws  enacted and enforced determines the fate of the nation, and that the congress composed of the House of the Representatives and the Senate acts as lawmakers that provide guidelines to our state. 

In your own sentiment, are you satisfied with the line-up of our 16th congress? Will this phenomena be considered a normalcy in our country? Can this, call it whatever, end or change? 

Source: PCIJ's Got degrees, no degrees?