Sen. Santiago throws DFA chief oppositor out of hearing room

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has thrown an oppositor to the nomination of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario out of the hearing room when he failed to provide evidence against the DFA chief.

A certain Chung Hing Wong a.k.a. Joseph Wong appeared at the Commission on Appointments’ committee on foreign affairs on Tuesday to block the appointment of del Rosario, whom he accused of syndicated estafa when he was still a director of a bank.

But when Santiago, head of the committee, asked if he had evidence against the Foreign Affairs Secretary, the oppositor pointed out the failure of del Rosario to file a counter affidavit in a pending case he filed at the Department of Justice.

“Ang lakas naman ng loob mong pumunta dito, ano ka abogado ka ba? [It’s so brave of you to come here, are you even a lawyer?]” an irked Santiago said.

“Hindi po, I’m the victim po [No, I’m the victim],” said the oppositor.

“I know that pero sana sumama ka ng abogado kasi ang aming panahon dito ay gipit na gipit [you should have brought a lawyer with you because we are very pressed for time here],” said the senator.

Santiago then turned to the members of the committee to inform that the complaint against the Secretary was dismissed because it was not only the function of the committee to litigate a case but also it was not clear how this would affect the qualification of the nominee.

“This committee dismisses the complaint. Huwag mo nang ulitin yan ha [Don’t do that again], that’s contemptuous kasi binabastos mo kami dito e [you are being disrespectful to us],” she said.

“Pupunta ka dito hindi mo malinawag ang kasalanan ng tao. Lahat kami naka amerikana handang handa na magtrabaho [You would go here and you could not tell what the misdeeds of the person are. We’re all ready to work here.] Please get this oppositor out of the premises,” Santiago said.