Selective Amnesia
Mike Banos
September 16, 2009
Either it´s the onset of a pretty bad case of Alzheimer´s disease, or Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is again having one of her periodic attacks of selective amnesia.
Santiago, who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, was one of the 18 senators who voted in favor of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) during the Estrada administration.
Listen to her now: the VFA should be terminated because it "continues to foster an attitude of dependency on our part and an attitude of arrogance on the part of the US."
Santiago´s eloquence cannot hide the increasing frequency of his debilitating memory loss. Recall how she vowed to jump off a helicopter head first if then President Estrada was removed from office. When reminded of what she promised to do if she was proven wrong after Erap left the palace, she laughed hysterically and said, "I lied."
Later, when the Supreme Court said she "undoubtedly cross[ed] the limits of decency and good professional conduct," with her use of foul language, she labeled the High Court "a Supreme Court of idiots"!
The High Court said: "(She) is a cut higher than most lawyers. Her achievements speak for themselves." What the SC meant was that it had expected more out of Santiago, given her achievements as a lawyer when it comes to exhibiting proper decorum and behavior.
The High Court declared Santiago had violated Canons 8 and 11 of the Code of Professional Responsibility (precluding lawyers from using abusive and offensive language and from disrespecting the courts and judicial officers) based on a privilege speech she delivered in the Senate in 2006 after the Judicial and Bar Council struck her name from the short list of nominees for the post vacated by Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban. The JBC ruled that non-Supreme Court justices were ineligible to vie for the post of Chief Justice.
Some excerpts from Santiago´s privilege speech:
"I am not angry. I am irate. I am foaming in the mouth. I am homicidal. I am suicidal. I am humiliated, debased, degraded."
"And I am not only that, I feel like throwing up to be living my middle years in a country of this nature. I am nauseated."
"I spit on the face of Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and his cohorts in the Supreme Court, I am no longer interested in the position [of Chief Justice] if I was to be surrounded by idiots."
"I would rather be in another environment but not in the Supreme Court of idiots."
More recently, Santiago was again on the offensive against cabinet and local officials who were ostensibly using government funds for their TV infomercials, but strangely silent of the more extensive use of same by her fellow senators.
A Philippine Daily Inquirer, who identified himself as Sesinando Santos, suggested Santiago not be "myopic and see only the wrongdoing of the Cabinet and local officials" but also look at the infomercials of her fellow senator.
Recall that Santiago recently professed her desire to be included in Sen. Manny Villar's senatorial ticket for the May 2010 elections, so selective amnesia could again be the culprit in this instance.
Not to condone the Cabinet and local officials if indeed Santiago had facts to back her attacks but compared to them, senators Mar Roxas and Villar have been running infomercials at a rate that makes Santiago´s object of vehemence look like amateurs in a karaoke bar.
Moreover, her colleagues in the Senate have all the inherent advantages to spend state funds sans audits due to their access to Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF, better known as pork barrel funds), which are traditionally not subjected to the rigorous state audits and examinations of executive branch officials by the Commission on Audit (COA).
Santiago has claimed Cabinet secretaries and other officials of the executive branch have spent P218 million so far for their infomercials. One of the senators who have booked airtime for his infomercials has already spent twice that amount by himself, easy.
Selective amnesia my foot.
Santiago, who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, was one of the 18 senators who voted in favor of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) during the Estrada administration.
Listen to her now: the VFA should be terminated because it "continues to foster an attitude of dependency on our part and an attitude of arrogance on the part of the US."
Santiago´s eloquence cannot hide the increasing frequency of his debilitating memory loss. Recall how she vowed to jump off a helicopter head first if then President Estrada was removed from office. When reminded of what she promised to do if she was proven wrong after Erap left the palace, she laughed hysterically and said, "I lied."
Later, when the Supreme Court said she "undoubtedly cross[ed] the limits of decency and good professional conduct," with her use of foul language, she labeled the High Court "a Supreme Court of idiots"!
The High Court said: "(She) is a cut higher than most lawyers. Her achievements speak for themselves." What the SC meant was that it had expected more out of Santiago, given her achievements as a lawyer when it comes to exhibiting proper decorum and behavior.
The High Court declared Santiago had violated Canons 8 and 11 of the Code of Professional Responsibility (precluding lawyers from using abusive and offensive language and from disrespecting the courts and judicial officers) based on a privilege speech she delivered in the Senate in 2006 after the Judicial and Bar Council struck her name from the short list of nominees for the post vacated by Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban. The JBC ruled that non-Supreme Court justices were ineligible to vie for the post of Chief Justice.
Some excerpts from Santiago´s privilege speech:
"I am not angry. I am irate. I am foaming in the mouth. I am homicidal. I am suicidal. I am humiliated, debased, degraded."
"And I am not only that, I feel like throwing up to be living my middle years in a country of this nature. I am nauseated."
"I spit on the face of Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and his cohorts in the Supreme Court, I am no longer interested in the position [of Chief Justice] if I was to be surrounded by idiots."
"I would rather be in another environment but not in the Supreme Court of idiots."
More recently, Santiago was again on the offensive against cabinet and local officials who were ostensibly using government funds for their TV infomercials, but strangely silent of the more extensive use of same by her fellow senators.
A Philippine Daily Inquirer, who identified himself as Sesinando Santos, suggested Santiago not be "myopic and see only the wrongdoing of the Cabinet and local officials" but also look at the infomercials of her fellow senator.
Recall that Santiago recently professed her desire to be included in Sen. Manny Villar's senatorial ticket for the May 2010 elections, so selective amnesia could again be the culprit in this instance.
Not to condone the Cabinet and local officials if indeed Santiago had facts to back her attacks but compared to them, senators Mar Roxas and Villar have been running infomercials at a rate that makes Santiago´s object of vehemence look like amateurs in a karaoke bar.
Moreover, her colleagues in the Senate have all the inherent advantages to spend state funds sans audits due to their access to Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF, better known as pork barrel funds), which are traditionally not subjected to the rigorous state audits and examinations of executive branch officials by the Commission on Audit (COA).
Santiago has claimed Cabinet secretaries and other officials of the executive branch have spent P218 million so far for their infomercials. One of the senators who have booked airtime for his infomercials has already spent twice that amount by himself, easy.
Selective amnesia my foot.
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