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Celebs, politicians react to Santiago-Enrile word war on social media

By RIE TAKUMI, GMA News

Netizens from all over cyberspace—including some well-known celebrities—gave mixed reactions to the word war between Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago and former senate leader Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile in the former's privilege speech last Wednesday.

 
The speech, which lasted for an hour, saw Santiago calling Enrile a "hypersexualized serial womanizer", "the king of smuggling, gambling and illegal logging empires", and a "mastermind of plunder". Enrile merely fiddled with his tablet computer during the speech, but afterwards said the speech only confirmed his earlier assumptions on the state of her mental health. 
 
He made these assumptions in a Senate blue ribbon probe into the pork barrel scam earlier this month, when he called Santiago's own allegations "hallucinated imaginings" from her "bitterly hostile mind". He had his own privilege speech last Wednesday to further his retorts against Santiago, where he accused her of being an "obsessive hater" who spread "bold-faced" lies about him. 
 
Awe, dismay, and sassy comebacks
 
DJ KC Montero seemed entranced by Santiago's accusations of Enrile. As a pre-game entertainment, JC Intal and the Barako Bull Power Cola team watched the privilege speech in their locker room. Former senator Pia Cayetano and another citizen also noted the entertainment value of the speech by pointing out a movie reference Santiago made:
 
 
 
 
 
Jim Paredes, one-third of the legendary APO Hiking Society band, meanwhile kept a steady stream of commentary during the debacle, and questioned both sides' allegations against each other. Political figure Teodoro "Teddy" Casiño also displayed dismay over the state of the debate, and was joined by several other citizens in his sentiment:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Santiago's account also tweeted during her speech, with her comments ranging from adamant to hilarious:
 
 
Santiago and Enrile's personal squabble a "waste of time"
 
With all the buzz surrounding the feud, Senator Sergio Osmeña can't help but think that Senate sessions are now merely a source of entertainment, rather than the law-making body that it is.
 
“Nasasayang ‘yung oras ng Senate, pero at the same time we are providing a lot of entertainment so you [reporters] have a lot of stories,” Osmeña told reporters on Wednesday.
 
“If somebody will be reading the transcripts of the Senate 30 years from now, I will not be proud of it. Baka basahin ng apo ko iyon at itanong, 'Did this really happen?' I would be embarrassed to say yes,” the senator said.
 
At least one other senator felt the same way about the debacle, as Senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto III on Thursday that he and Osmeña are looking into ways of removing both Santiago and Enrile's privilege speeches from the Senate records. If they could not remove the entire speeches, parts of these will be removed from record.
 
"'Yung usapan namin sa loob, parang hindi na maganda sa image ng Senado 'yung may mga unpaliamentary language na ginagamit. 'Yon ang naging problem," said Sotto.
 
Oddly enough, Santiago and Enrile did not always have volatile relations. Their falling out only became public when Enrile did not attend Santiago's 40th wedding anniversary in June 2011. It was a notable snub because he was Santiago's godfather at her wedding in 1971. Both cited different reasons for their hatred of each other, and consistently denied the accusations made against them. – TJD, GMA News
 
Tags: miriamdefensorsantiago, juanponceenrile, facebook, twitter, instagram
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