Lawyer wants Miriam barred from running in 2010 polls

A lawyer has moved for the disqualification of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago from joining the 2010 elections because of her alleged “unsound mind." “Senator…Santiago is of unsound mind. She appears to be suffering from a severe mental disorder," said Nombraan Pangcoga in an eight-page petition he submitted to the Commission on Elections on Monday. Santiago’s “insanity," is characterized by the following symptoms, according to Pangcoga: “delusion of grandeur," “flight of ideas," “mood swings," “penchant for lying," and “paranoia." Santiago’s camp dismissed Pangcoga’s claim, with the senator’s chief of staff, Camille Sevilla, saying the senator was being attacked by her political opponents because she had been topping the surveys on senatorial candidates. “These are plain harassment cases, which are most probably the handiwork of unscrupulous people whom the senator has exposed or graft and corruption," said Sevilla, a lawyer. She added, “Sen. Santiago has been rating very high in recent senatorial surveys. She’s always in the top three of the surveys. That’s why some people have an axe to grind against her."

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV Pangco claimed that in the Senate, Santiago had always exhibited “unparliamentary" behavior. “She repeatedly abused her position and power as senator to defame and slander people." Pangcoga further assailed Santiago for allegedly failing to disclose her financial and business interests. “For many years, respondent (Santiago) was a rented apartment dweller until she suddenly acquired the La Vista mansion and occupied the same in June 2002." The value of this newly acquired property is grossly ‘disappropriate’ to her salary as a senator," he added. He also claimed that the senator’s La Vista home in Quezon City was worth at least P53 billion, but her salary at the time that she acquired the property was only reportedly P43,000 a month. Pangcoga likewise alleged that Santiago was guilty of graft and corruption for having stolen a Toyota Supra sports car from the custody of the Bureau of Customs in 1990, and benefiting from the then Bureau Immigration and Deportation (BID)’s alien legalization program. Santiago headed the BID from 1988 to 1989. Under the program, aliens who opt to legalize their residence in the Philippines were charged P250,000 each. Pangcoga claimed the fees were never remitted to the government. Pangcoga had also accused Santiago of committing “apprehension" and “prosecution of a criminal offense" when her son, Alexander Robert, supposedly committed suicide at their La Vista house in 2003. “Law enforcement agencies of the government were not allowed to conduct scene of the crime investigation. She had the cadaver of her son immediately cremated, this destroying, suppressing, and concealing the very corpus delicti of the offense," he said. - KIMBERLY JANE T. TAN, AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMANews.TV