Miriam to colleagues in ‘pork’ mess: Die

MANILA, Philippines - Die.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago had this suggestion to her colleagues tagged in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, adding that those who spared from the controversy should commit “hara-kiri.”

“Eat, blank and die,” the senator said when asked at a press briefing yesterday how lawmakers linked to the scam should deal with the issue.

And to the rest of the lawmakers who were not implicated, Santiago said, “Abolish the Congress. Commit hara-kiri. You owe it to the Filipino people. We should all wear our Filipino robes and bow in front of TV and hara-kiri ourselves.”

She said she would just ask her household helper to buy her “a vial of poison, prepare a necktie for her or a piece of rope.”

Sidelined by chronic fatigue syndrome, it was the first time in a long while that Santiago showed up at the Senate. She also presided over a hearing of the foreign affairs committee of the Commission on Appointments.

“The whole system is just so bad, that’s why people get sick. I think this is the country with the most sick people in the whole world, that we continue to go to office as if nothing happens,” she said.

“We are really, really sick or morally sick, mentally sick. The higher the positions, the higher their mental sickness,” she added.

Most expensive handbag

Santiago said she is raring to attend the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the pork barrel scam to grill both the whistleblowers and suspected pork barrel scam operator Janet Lim-Napoles.

Asked what she wanted to ask Napoles, the senator said, “What’s the most expensive handbag?”

Napoles and her family have been criticized for their high profile lifestyle, highlighted by partying and a collection of expensive handbags and accessories.

“I cannot grasp how much her money is, which is so galactic,” Santiago said.

Plunder

Santiago said concerned lawmakers could be charged with plunder along with Napoles.

She said plunder charges could be filed against the senators based on witnesses’ accounts and the special audit report from 2007 to 2009.

Santiago said Napoles could not be made state witness, noting that it does not appear that she is the least guilty, unless she pins down higher officials in government.

“If she will do that, I will agree that she will be the least guilty… So far in the hands of the DOJ (Department of Justice), particularly the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), we have no evidence,” she said.

“The Penal Code is very strict on the rule of making an individual a state witness, because she would be absolved of wrongdoings… (which) will mean the dropping of charges against her,” she said.