Miriam shreds Puno to pieces in privilege speech

Re-electionist Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago on Monday unmasked the Cabinet official allegedly behind the character assassination against her, and that is Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno. In a strongly worded privilege speech, Santiago called Puno a “punong magikero [head magician," a “jueteng king," and “the avatar of corruption and electoral fraud in the Philippines." She also named him as the unseen hand behind the disbarment and disqualification cases filed against her, saying the two “are identical, in that they constitute a rehash of all the black propaganda that Puno threw at me during the 1992 presidential campaign." The disbarment case was in connection with allegations that Santiago obstructed the apprehension and prosecution of criminal offense when she refused law enforcers to conduct scene of the crime investigation on the death of her son, Alexander Robert, in their Quezon City residence in November 2003. “What manner of diabolic creature on the face of this endangered planet is Punong Magikero? How can someone, even one so low on the food chain, write these lies concerning a tragedy so widely covered by mass media, and even broadcast on TV for several weeks? What kind of moral imbecile is this creature?" Santiago said. Santiago said she too died when her son died. “I have been undead for six years, and the mission of my life now is to fight corruption to the bitter end." No surprise The DILG, meanwhile, was not surprised with Santiago’s tirades, calling them “unfounded and rehashed." "Senator Santiago’s attacks on Secretary Puno do not depart at all from her usual attitude of downgrading people whom she suspects of doing her ill will and fabricating allegations against them," said DILG assistant secretary Brian Raymund Yamsuan in a statement. He said Puno has always been transparent in all aspects of his public life. “Throughout his career as a public official, he [Puno] expects unfair accusations against him and he knows that he should not be bothered by them." He added that Puno has also been at the receiving end of public scrutiny, “but we wish to remind her not to drag other people’s names when the same thing happens to her."

Kingmaker? Santiago also hit Puno as a “lackey" of three presidents – Fidel V Ramos, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. “Punong Magikero has been the obsequious lackey in turn of Presidents Ramos, Estrada, and Arroyo. At present, he juggles all three of them," she said. She said Puno’s modus operandi is to project a situation, to the point where a sitting president becomes hostage to the situation. Santiago has blamed Puno for her lost to Ramos in the 1992 presidential election. In her speech, she said Puno “diverted the provincial certificates of canvass from the various provinces to the [Sulo] hotel, where he applied snopake to my votes, and exchanged it with the votes of his master Ramos." “Then he submitted the certificates, snopake and all, to the nearby House of Representatives," she said. Santiago also accused Puno of being a jueteng king because despite his power to prohibit illegal gambling throughout the country, he has failed to do so. “Disturbing tactics" She also said Puno caused “disturbing tactics" when he ordered the transfer of police chiefs to Pangasinan, Cavite, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Leyte. She said this could be in preparation for widespread electoral fraud in the May 2010 elections, either by violence or by tampering of ballots. “There seems to be an effort to create a political situation where armored confrontation is highly probable. This seems to be the basis of recent [Philippine National Police] orders relating to ordnance and armaments. This is highly suspicious," she said. She added that the transfer of police chiefs is illegal as under Republic Act 8851 or the Police Reform Act of 1998, the mayor has authority to recommend to the provincial director the transfer, reassignment, or detail of PNP members outside of their respective city or town residences. "The mayors’ recommendations were not sought, thus resulting in illegality," she said. Santiago, a former judge, said the illegal transfer of police chiefs before the campaign period constitutes the crime of unlawful appointment under the Penal Code, Art. 244. Another target Puno was not the only target of Santiago’s scathing speech, but also Bonifacio Aletajan, the counsel of the complainants in the disqualification and disbarment case filed against her with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), respectively. She said Alentajan was kicked out of the Pasay City fiscal office due to corruption. “As a special assistant to the justice secretary, I was personally present when Alentajan wept crocodile tears and managed to plead with both the justice secretary and his undersecretary to let him resign instead. Ginagamit niya ang pangalan ng justice secretary para kumita ng pera (He used the name of the justice secretary to earn money)," she said. She said her staff would be filing a disbarment case against Alentajan. - KBK, GMANews.TV