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MANILA, Philippines – A snub for a snub.
Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is not yet done protesting what she called a boycott of her probe on resigned Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno.
In a media statement, Santiago announced that she will be absent from the Senate this week to show that she resents Malacañang and some senators’ snub of her committee hearing last Friday, September 14.
“Tit for tat. If they snub my hearing, I will snub their session,” she said.
Santiago is protesting the absence of 9 senators who are members of her Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Revision of Codes and Laws. Some of the members said they had a prior engagement but Santiago claims there was a conspiracy between the lawmakers and Malacañang to snub her probe.
The committee chairperson is also upset about the absence of Cabinet Secretaries from her hearing.
Santiago said though she might go to the Senate on Wednesday, September 19, if only to oppose the confirmation of incoming Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II. Roxas was among those absent in her hearing.
The Commission on Appointments (CA) is set to take up Roxas’ confirmation on Wednesday.
“If a Cabinet member who snubs my hearing is presented for confirmation this Wednesday, I will attend the confirmation hearing to cast a veto, to fulfill my promise that I shall veto all Cabinet members who were invited but snubbed me,” Santiago said.
The other secretaries who were absent are Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje.
Roxas’ appointment needs to be confirmed by the CA before he can finally assume his new post at the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Reacting to Santiago’s announcement, Sen Vicente Sotto III, chair of the CA committee on local government, said: “Yes I will proceed with Mar’s [Roxas’] committee hearing and plenary recommendation for approval. If she [Santiago] invokes Section 20, which is the prerogative of any CA member, then let the cards fall where they will… On my part, I will do my job according to what I know is good for the people not because it pleases or displeases me.”
Section 20 of the CA rules allows a member of the commission to move for the suspension of any nomination or appointment already recommended for approval by a committee in the CA.
‘Reading from the same playbook’
In her statement, Santiago said the “conspiracy” between the senators and the Palace is obvious in the same arguments they used to question her investigation.
She said Ochoa, through his letter to her committee, and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen Panfilo Lacson all raised the lack of a Senate resolution as a procedural flaw in the probe.
The senator said this was a sign that the senators and Malacañang were “reading from the same playbook.”
“I have already pointed out, for their education, that several provisions in the Senate Rules concerning inquiries in aid of legislation strongly imply that there is no need for a formal resolution, if the committee has competent jurisdiction,” Santiago said.
Santiago added that her committee has jurisdiction over the revision of laws and in this case, the Administrative Code was in question.
She said the law was ignored in Puno’s appointment because there was a need for the Interior Secretary to recommend Puno prior to his appointment.
Santiago again objected to Ochoa’s letter that she should have first sent the Palace a list of questions for the Cabinet Secretaries.
“My opponents appear to be intellectually challenged. The requirement for prior submission of questions applies only to the Question Hour under the Constitution. It does not apply to committee hearings.”
Heart’s advice
Santiago said her decision to snub the Senate session this week was based on the advice of her friend, actress Heart Evangelista, and her own son, Archie Santiago.
The senator is suffering from hypertension, saying she does not want her blood pressure to rise again.
“Heart Evangelista called me early today to say that I should no longer go to the Senate if I will only lose my temper,” Santiago said. – Rappler.com
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