Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago
Is insanity one of the grounds for disqualifying someone aspiring for a senatorial post? I checked my 1987 Constitution and no where do I find sanity as part of the pre-election qualifications for a senator:
Sec. 3, Article VI. No person shall be a Senator unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, and, on the day of the elections, is at least thirty-five years of age, able to read and write, a registered voter, and a resident of the Philippines for not less than two years immediately preceding the day of the elections”
Under the Omnibus Election Code, let us check the grounds for disqualification:
Section 12 of the BP 881 or the Omnibus Election Code which provides as follows:
Sec. 12. Disqualifications. – Any person who has been declared by competent authority insane or incompetent, or has been sentenced by final judgment for subversion, insurrection, rebellion or for any offense for which he has been sentenced to a penalty of more than eighteen (18) months, or for a crime involving moral turpitude, shall be disqualified to be a candidate and to hold any office, unless he has been given plenary pardon, or granted amnesty.So, there, a candidate can only be disqualified if rendered insane or incompetent by a “competent authority,” meaning, declared clinically insane by a doctor or the National Mental Hospital.
Why am I talking about this now? Because a Palace hack filed a disqualification case against Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on the grounds of “insanity”.
The lawyer, a Muslim by the name of Nombraan Pangcoga, director of the Philippine Muslim Affairs, charged Santiago of insanity and asked another lawyer Atty. Bonifacio Alentajan to file the disqualification case, well beyond the reglamentary period for filing such a case before the Supreme Court.
Seemed that the one insane is this Pangcoga, who probably filed the case just to lick the behind of a Cabinet member out to discredit the good senator. Any lawyer would know that the case will not stick in court, unless, of course, there is a document that they could present showing a doctor declaring Santiago, “insane” or “incompetent”.
Pangcoga should also know that even if there are evidence showing graft and corruption against Santiago, she should first be charged and declared guilty by final judgment, meaning by the Supreme Court, before anyone could actually file a disqualification case, citing as grounds a case of graft.
Tsk,tsk,tsk. Seemed like this ass-licker by the name of Pangcoga is heading to the gallows. And Alentajan too for consenting to file such a nebulous case against Santiago. The PR man who made this yarn is also responsible and will probably get himself shot by his bosses anytime soon.
Senator Santiago, for all her faults, is a brilliant lawyer. She is the most eloquent among the Senators. Sometimes she speaks her mind louder than the others but Santiago is definitely not insane.
This is not the way to discredit somebody like Santiago who already distanced herself from the Arroyo administration.
Now, here’s the catch—is there a “silent prodding” or is there a “blanket authority” given by somebody high up there to publicly discredit and malign the reputation of Senator Santiago? As they say, these Cabinet members do not act independently from Mrs. Arroyo.
ahpangcoga
1 month ago
can i ask for your email address mr. ricky rivera? I would like to share to you who, from the eyes of a proud son, this person you have tagged as an “ass-licker” is. mine is ahpangcoga@gmail.com. you can search my background on facebook, if you are aprrehensive.
Ricky Rivera
1 month ago
hi mr. ahpangcoga,
you can email me at the email address here. if you want to share some information about your father, you can freely send it to me and I will publish it.
the opinions and views and facts expressed here are all under the Free Commons and do share some info about your father.
thanks.
ahpangcoga
4 weeks ago
Apologies for the delayed response. I have a hectic sked of my own as a peace and human rights NGO worker here in Mindanao.
Below is my full response to your article. I had posted an original version of it on my facebook account. But here, I had to change the pronouns to second-person since i’m communicating with you direct now (plus a little additions):
First off, I disagree with my dad that Sen. Miriam is insane. I also do not agree with the petition he filed with Comelec. But I love him fiercely and I am proud that he is my father and that I am his son. No doubt all my seven other siblings would say the same. But, I am my own man and I will vote for Miriam because she has comported herself pretty well in public office. She has “heightened contradictions” in the Senate. I would if I were in her place. In the overall, the results were good for the country. It does not mean to say that because my dad filed a petition against her, I would take a similar position. Only disempowered people do that.
HOWEVER, I draw the line when any person has the temerity to say that my dad “ass licked” somebody from Malacanang. I know that isn’t the case. Anybody who “ass licks” somebody in Malacanang is bound to get something in return; Cash or some political favors. My dad got NONE. He was just returning a favor to a friend, Bonifacio Alentajan. Alentajan agreed to lawyer for Ako’y Moro to the Supreme Court PRO BONO. Maybe Alentajan has an axe to grind against his next door neighbor, and so he asked my dad to file the petition. Believe me, it wasn’t Gibo or Punong Magikero (whom my dad’s people, the Bangsamoro people, hate to high heavens for the kind of things both had done here in Mindanao in the past years) who was behind it.
What you do not know is that my dad had refused “get rich” opportunities from the administrations of past and present so often that he is now living in a small house (no land title, only rights to occupy) in Quezon City. I am a testament to the hardship that my family has faced all those years. And at 70 years old, supporting a 62 year old wife and our little Dimple is slowly getting to be a difficulty for him and his law practice in the metro. I am sure my dad doesn’t “lick ass”. Never has. Never will. I can vouch for that. And if you don’t believe in that, then you can go to 182-D Batasan Road, Commonwealth Ave. and see for yourself the size of my parents’ house. Maybe you would want to compare the size of your house to that of his to see who has more statistical probability on the ass licking thing. You are richer than my father. You have the Atenean education, the makati strategic adevertising consultancy firm, and (most probably) the bigger, posher house.
This monologue would sound pathetic to the indifferent, but that would mean they never were sons to their dads. Now, that would be pitiful.
Journalists seek the truth. Not “paint” the truth according to their masters or to their profiteering tendencies. Any self-respecting journalist knows that. but then again, there are journalists and there are propagandists.
Thank God I hate politics and all the hypocrisy that comes with it.
Ricky Rivera
4 weeks ago
Ah okey, don’t worry. Like you, I fight for the rights of the oppressed. If you think that your father did the right thing, then, write about it and I will publish it here. I just expressed what many people thought about what your father did. And being a member of the Muslim community myself, it is best for your father to enhance the lives of the Muslim Bangsamoros instead of dabbling in national politics. What do you think?