Santiago seething over attacks: I will stay until end

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Is Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago being provoked into submission by her critics?

The mercurial senator raised the issue Tuesday amid criticisms of how she had been scolding members of the prosecution for their purported blunders during the proceedings.

“Since the Senate rules prohibit public discussion on the merits of the case, the corrupt character assassins feed the media with poisonous personal attacks,” Santiago wrote in a letter addressed to reporters covering the Senate.

“My enemies could deliberately provoke me with a personal attack that could lead me to further hypertension and a possible stroke, thus effectively removing me from the impeachment court.”

But Santiago intends to stay on despite being elected to the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose members will take their oath next month.

“It is black propaganda to imply that my strong efforts to prevent trial delays will not amount to anything, because I will no longer be in the country when the impeachment trial is submitted for decision,” she said.

“Even only one vote could be crucial to decide the impeachment case. Hence, I shall take steps to persuade the ICC to call me, only until after the impeachment decision has been promulgated.”

In the meantime, Santiago said she would no longer respond to attacks against her in media.

‘Submental cretins’

But rising blood pressure aside, she came out swinging on Tuesday and attacked her critics’ credentials in questioning her behavior as a judge in the impeachment court.

“I am aghast and postal that a party in litigation and the submental cretins who are my enemies have the gall to demand the power to control the personality of the judge. To educate the noneducable, it is the judge who controls the proceedings,” Santiago said in a letter addressed to reporters covering the Senate.

She also made an issue of the “trial experience” and “law experience” of lawyers who cried foul over her actions.

“What is the record of actual courtroom experience of my enemies?” Santiago asked. “Not every dimwit can claim ‘trial practice,’ which calls for the special rules on trial technique and procedure. And what is the basis for all the pious nonsense about judicial behavior, from people who have never seen a courtroom, or read jurisprudence?”

Santiago left the hearing early last Thursday after her blood pressure shot up to 180/90. Her condition improved the following day, but “pressure points over the weekend caused a stratospheric rise to 180/100.”

The senator cited the legal provision that “any personal attack against a judge during trial qualifies as the crime of contempt, because it tends to degrade the administration of justice.”

She said the Supreme Court had ruled that “this provision applies even to media.” Christian V. Esguerra