Proposal to raise the number of House seats a form of gerrymandering Alvin T.

Claridades April 13, 2009 The proposal to raise the number of House seats from 250 to 350 and have the new congressmen elected by May 2010 is nothing but a veiled attempt at resorting to a form of gerrymandering to suit the personal, self-serving ends of some wily politicians on the pretext of alleged underrepresentation. As we know, gerrymandering is a form of redistribution in which electoral districts or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral advantage. This political strategy may even be used to help or hinder particular constituents, such as members of a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group. Our more sensible representatives in the Lower House and in the Senate should be wary enough not to fall unwittingly into the trap being laid by their crafty comrades and swallow hook, line and sinker the seemingly laudable proposal. On close scrutiny, such a proposition if effected via a constitutional amendment which appears very difficult to pull off at this time would entail huge incremental budgetary allocations as the incumbent Congressmen are expected to fight tooth and nail any attempt to diminish the advantages and benefits they currently enjoy, among them the infamous pork barrel.

And what additional direct benefits will the people have from increased number of representatives? More absentee legislators, more easily manipulable chamber, more chaotic sessions and raucous committee hearings, more privilege speeches and junkets, fewer quality legislations and greasier pork barrels? Enough is enough! may not be enough. Let us fight off this heedless proposal by calling on our more sensible lawmakers to rally against it and kill it on the floors of the two chambers. We do not need new seats and additional heads to make our Congress do better. All we need are a few good men to take the cudgels for the people they are supposed to represent.