Miriam tells Villar: Submit self to the committee of the whole

MANILA, Philippines - Administration Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago on Wednesday urged Senator Manuel Villar Jr to submit himself to the committee of the whole even as she warned presidential aspirants in the Senate not to tread his human rights or suffer the backlash of the public come 2010. "That is, at the very least, an act of courtesy to your colleagues," Santiago said in addressing the matter to Villar. In an interview with reporters, Santiago said her colleagues have doubts in their minds and that should be answered. "As courtesy to their position, as the highest publicly elected officials within Congress, then you submit yourself to their jurisdiction. That should be the case instead of snubbing in effect," Santiago said. However, she said each senator should be careful in their actuations and statements with regards to the ethics complaint against Villar because they "will have to answer to the Filipino voting public." "We have to be very careful because the public might have a backlash if it seems like the majority for example are already treading on his human rights," Santiago said. "That is the danger, there is here a very tricky situation where public sympathy might be pouring for Senator Villar simply because he is numerically outnumbered although the public might believe that his version is the truer one," she added. She said the hearing of the ethics complaint might not be a question of Villar’s innocence or guilt but how the public will react to the fact that the majority might vote as a solid majority. "The public might think also that these senators can no longer be trusted to vote according to their sense of justice but simply according to their sense of partisan politics," Santiago said. Asked if the hearing could work to Villar's advantage, Santiago it would depend on the way it will be carried out. He said the senators should be as sober as a judge and the presence of television cameras and of the media "is going to put the fear of God in every single senator especially since elections are just around the corner." "The mere fact of being observed changes the observed. We are all going to be in our best behavior," Santiago said. - Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV