Two weeks after a lawyer sought the disqualification of Miriam Defensor Santiago from running in the May polls, another individual has filed a complaint against the feisty senator to have her expelled from the practice of law. In his 13-page complaint, Efren Battad on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to remove Santiago from the roll of attorneys in the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. He claimed that Santiago committed “serious misconduct" and violated Presidential Decree 1829 or the law penalizing obstruction of apprehension and prosecution of criminal offenders as well as the Canons of the Code of Professional Responsibility. Battad’s arguments were similar to those used by lawyer Nombraan Pangcoga in his December 21, 2009 disqualification complaint against the senator before the Commission on Elections (Comelec). [SEE: Lawyer wants Miriam barred from running in 2010 polls] Ako'y Moro Battad and Pangcoga are both members of the Ako’y Moro group whose application for party-list accreditation was recently denied by the Comelec. The group is composed of about one million members seeking to represent the interest of the Muslims community, according to its counsel, Bonifacio Alentajan. It is led by Sultan of Sulu Allien Alipudin and Maguindanao-based Datu Jamel Mohammed Kadir. "Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is of unsound mind," Battad’s complaint read. He claims that Santiago’s “insanity" is characterized by the following symptoms: “delusion of grandeur," “flight of ideas," “mood swings," “penchant for lying," and “paranoia." The complainant also berated Santiago for allegedly “abusing" her power as public official “to defame and slander people."
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV Asked for the senator’s side of the issue, Tom Tolibas, Santiago's media relations officer, said the lawmaker’s camp could not yet comment because it had yet to receive a copy of the complaint. In the same complaint, Battad faulted Santiago for allegedly failing to make a full disclosure of her financial and business interest for the purchase of a lot and construction of a P53.2-million mansion in Quezon City’s posh La Vista Subdivision along Katipunan Avenue. The value of the property is grossly disproportionate to her P43,000 salary as senator, according to Battad. He likewise accused Santiago of obstructing justice when her son, Alexander Robert, supposedly committed suicide 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," Battad said.
No personal grudge Asked by GMANews.TV why Santiago was singled out by the complainants, Alentajan said the cases against the senator stemmed from Ako’y Moro’s protest against the Comelec's decision to deny its application for party-list accreditation. The group has no personal grudge against the senator but its members were disappointed that while the Comelec had allowed a politician to run despite her alleged “unsound mind," Ako’y Moro was barred by the poll body from joining the May elections, according to Alentajan. “
Malas niya lang siya yung napili, siya kasi yung pinaka maingay (It’s unfortunate that she was the one picked by the group because she’s the noisiest)," the lawyer said in a phone interview with GMANews.TV Thursday night. Alentajan added that the group disliked Santiago’s penchant for hurling invectives against her political foes. It also criticized the senator for berating the Supreme Court in 2006 with harsh words. A disbarment complaint was also filed against Santiago in 2006 after she called the high court “the Supreme Court of idiots." “I am irate. I am foaming at the mouth. I am homicidal. I’m suicidal. I’m humiliated, debased and degraded. And not only that, I feel like throwing up to be living my middle years in a country of this nature. I am nauseated," Santiago further said in 2006 in her privilege speech at the Senate after she was disqualified as nominee for chief justice. The complaint was later on dismissed by the high tribunal, but it reminded Santiago to avoid using “intemperate language." The Comelec will hear Pangcoga's complaint against Santiago on January 11, 2010 at 2 p.m. at the session hall of the poll body’s main office in Intramuros, Manila. Pangcoga alleges that the senator is guilty of “culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption and unexplained wealth, obstruction of apprehension and prosecution of a criminal offense, and unparliamentary behavior." In the complaint, Pangcoga asked the Comelec to subpoena Santiago’s attending psychiatrist, Robert Walter and University of Santo Tomas Hospital officials to present her medical records.
- with reports from AMITA O. LEGASPI/ARCS, GMANews.TV