Miriam files complaint vs JPE

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has filed a complaint with the Senate rules committee against Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile in relation to his statements against her in a recent privilege speech.

In a letter to Senate President Franklin Drilon, Santiago asked that the ethics committee be organized right away and take up her complaint against Enrile.

“Last Wednesday, 4 December 2013, I delivered a privilege speech entitled ‘Navigating the Crime of the Plunder Mastermind.’ In that speech, I said that I would file a complaint against Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile. Hence this request,” Santiago said in the letter.

However, the ethics committee has yet to be organized, primarily because of lack of interest among senators in heading such a panel.

In a separate letter to Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who is also the chairman of the rules committee, Santiago asked that Enrile be sanctioned for disorderly behavior for “attacking me on a personal level in a prior privilege speech that he delivered on 27 November 2013, copy enclosed.”

Santiago said that her letter to Cayetano would serve as her formal complaint against Enrile.

Citing Rule 34 of the rules of the Senate, Santiago noted that there were parts of Enrile’s speech which should be considered unparliamentary.

Senate rules state that acts and language offending to a senator or any public institution shall be deemed unparliamentary.

Section 94 of Rule 34 of the Senate rules state that “no senator, under any circumstances, shall use offensive or improper language against another senator or against any public institution.”

The same rules provide that any member found guilty of disorderly behavior could be suspended or expelled from the Senate with a vote of two-thirds of all members of the Senate.