MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lawmakers’ abuses not limited to UK shows Chilean television program

Eight months discreetly filming Chilean congress members sins

Last week Chileans watched in disbelief a news report that showed their national deputies hard at work in Congress: fiddling around on their cell phones, spending time on Web sites like Facebook, or keeping up with the horse races.

According to the report, which aired Wednesday on Television Nacional (TVN, Channel 7), some deputies were also discovered to be voting on behalf of absent members, a very serious offence if the absent Congressperson is not somewhere in the Chamber.

The TV report also showed some Deputies checking in to the Chamber at 10:50 a.m. and leaving their work half an hour later.

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Alvarez of the hard-right Independent Democratic Union party (UDI) publicly apologized after the report aired.

“I believe I represent the whole Chamber when I say that, in the name of political dignity, one should apologize to the people in a case like this,” he said. He insisted that the vast majority of deputies do their job appropriately.

TVN reporters spent eight months discretely filming deputies from public viewing areas in the Chamber and touring their district offices. While many were not mentioned in the report, like presidential contender Marco Enriquez-Ominami of theSocialist Party (PS), a handful of the 120 deputies were caught in particularly damaging circumstances.

Dep. Ramón Farías of the Party for Democracy (PPD) had been clicking through photos on the social networking Web site Facebook just before he was to make a presentation. “I have a technical problem,” he told the full session. “I don’t have the official letter. I’m looking for it”.

Manuel Rojas (UDI) was spotted spending an hour on Facebook during one Chamber session. Both deputies said they use the social network to keep in touch with their constituents.

Other deputies, such as Guido Girardi Briere (PPD), and Claudia Nogueira (UDI) were filmed voting in place of two other deputies by pressing their button for them.

Although some deputies said the proxy voting was a technical issue, Chamber President Alvarez came down a little harder. “If we can identify a deputy voting for someone who is not in the room, it’s very serious and has to be investigated”.

Some deputies, particularly those mentioned in the program, were annoyed by the TV report. “The use of hidden cameras seems like a minor crime” said Farías.

Socialist Party Marcelo Díaz said some cases deserve analysis, but asked the public not to generalize.

The program was a smash success for TVN, which enjoyed soaring ratings throughout the broadcast.

By Evan Rose - Santiago Times