By James Hookway
Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao might be the Philippines’ most famous lawmaker, but Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is the real heavyweight champion in the country’s Congress.
Ms. Santiago, 66 years old, rarely shies away from a fight. She narrowly lost a disputed presidential election in 1992 and her acid-laced barbs often punctuate nightly news broadcasts here.
- Noel Celis/Reuters
- Sen. Judge Miriam Defensor Santiago earlier during the impeachment trial
On Wednesday, though, the veteran legislator raised her game to new highs during a closely watched impeachment trial of the country’s Supreme Court chief justice, helping turn an important but often tedious legal battle into a must-see pop-culture event. At one point Ms. Santiago swore at prosecutors for dropping several charges in the heavily politicized trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, who is accused of obstructing justice.
She also appeared to challenge one of the prosecutors to a fight for taking steps she felt undermined the credibility of the court. Some senators, Ms. Santiago among them, worry that Mr. Corona is being railroaded and are trying to ensure that the Senate follows proper procedures.
“I felt like creeping back into bed and adopting a fetal position, which is the normal reaction of any sane person when he’s faced with a world that is crumbling around him,” Ms. Santiago said. “I no longer know what universe I’m in.” She then went on to label the prosecutors as gago, an offensive term in the Philippines which loosely translates as “stupid.”
The trial is potentially explosive. Chief Justice Corona is accused of blocking corruption investigations of the country’s former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who faces her own trial but has denied committing any crimes. Current President Benigno Aquino III has staked his future on rooting out corruption, and some analysts say his backers are trying to air accusations against Mr. Corona, who denies any wrongdoing, in the media rather than proving them in the impeachment court.
Ms. Santiago, who last November was elected as judge to the International Criminal Court at the Hague, was incensed when prosecutors withdrew five of their eight charges against the Supreme Court chief. She saw that as proof there was a smear campaign against Mr. Corona.
“I am terribly convinced that this might constitute unethical behavior in this trial court,” she said before going on to question whether prosecutors were acting in good faith or were only set on smearing Mr. Corona.
“Wah!” Ms. Santiago said. “I was not born yesterday. We will be studied generations from now. This is a travesty. I request the secretariat record in the journal that I said ‘Wah.’”
Prosecutor Vitaliano Aguirre III was served an extra helping of Ms. Santiago’s ire after she caught him covering his ears at the peak of her tirade. He admitted to contempt of court, but said he couldn’t help it. “My ears were hurting from her shrill voice,” he told the court.
Ms. Santiago then went over to stare him down, and had to be pulled away by other senators in the courtroom, while some other lawmakers joked about how to spell “wah” and wondered what she meant by it. In some contexts, the term could mean something along the lines of, “Is that for real?”
The impeachment court is now deliberating what kind of punishment to hand out to Mr. Aguirre, if any. Senate majority leader Vicente Sotto III told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that some senators are mulling locking Mr. Aguirre in a room where he will be made to listen to a recorded loop of Ms. Santiago’s speeches.
This time, “it’s being suggested that Mr. Aquirre not be allowed to cover his ears,” Mr. Sotto said.
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