Miriam's scathing speech brings senators' decorum into focus

Senators usually refer to each other as "honorable gentleman" and "distinguished colleague" on the Senate floor.

 

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, however, clearly did not have these words in mind when she delivered a scathing privilege speech against Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile on Wednesday.

 

A furious Santiago hurled negative superlatives like "hypersexualized serial womanizer", "prince of darkness" and "Drama King of corrupt politics" at Enrile during her 45-minute speech.

 

In between barbs, she shot him hards stares and even pointed a finger at Enrile.

 

Senator Sergio Osmeña III said Santiago crossed the line with her "offensive" speech against a colleague. He said Santiago's behavior at Wednesday's session was clearly unparliamentary.

 

"We have rules here at the Senate on personal behavior. Lahat ng parliaments, may code of conduct iyan. Hindi dapat isama ang mga personalan," he said in an interview Thursday.

 

Santiago could not be reached for comment as of posting time.

 

Osmeña added that he found it peculiar that the Senate leadership did not immediately call out Santiago in the first place.

 

"I would have banged the gavel already and told that person na out of order siya. You have to do that so that the next person who wants to do that will be very careful," Osmeña said.

 

Senate rules

 

Under Section 93 of the Senate rules, an act or language is considered unparliamentary when it "offends a senator or any public institution."

 

The rules also state that a senator using unparliamentary language may be called to order by the Senate president, and may even be the subject of an ethics case. 

 

Senator Francis Escudero, meanwhile, noted Santiago failed to follow the rule on parliamentary proceedings which require members to refer to colleagues in the third person.

 

"May parliamentary proceedings na tradition at practices na ganun para maiwasan 'yung mga pag-aaway. Dapat hindi ka direktang nakikipag-usap sa ka-debate mo. Dapat kausap po lagi yung presiding officer. Kaya 'di ba kami, palagi dapat, Mr. President," Escudero said in a separate interview.

 

He however admitted that what constitutes unparliamentary behavior is only "established by tradition in Congresses all over the world."

 

Senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, for his part, pointed out how Santiago's position when she delivered her speech--with her back to the presiding officer--also went against the norm.

 

"Baka this is the good side to what happened between the two [Enrile and Santiago]. Baka, mapilitan kaming paigtingin, pahigpitan ang aming pagpapatupad ng aming mga rules ng Senate," Sotto said in a television interview.

 

Move to remove from Senate records

 

Both Sotto and Osmeña have indicated they want to move to have Santiago's speech--whether partly or in its entirety--stricken from Senate records.

 

"It's already been listened to, pero we don't want that to be part of the official records. We don't tolerate unparliamentary behavior... You want to keep a dignified Senate," Osmeña said.

 

He added that he will also review Enrile's speech last week, where the opposition leader ridiculed his critic for her "depraved mind" and her purportedly low grade on the Ethics portion of the Bar exams.

 

Asked if Enrile opting to tinker with his tablet while Santiago was speaking also constituted unparliamentary behavior, Osmeña said: "There's no rule that says, 'If I'm attacking you, you should listen to me.'"

 

Senate President Franklin Drilon, for his part, said that since the speeches have already been delivered, it is high time for the Senate to go back to its legislative work.

 

"Nailabas na ang galit ng bawat isa. Maybe it's time to cool off. It might be appropriate for us to have some discussion on how to bring back old relationships," he said. — JDS, GMA News