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Miriam kicks out oppositor to DFA chief appointment


An irritated Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Tuesday kicked out an oppositor to the appointment of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, whose nomination was finally confirmed by the bicameral Commission on Appointments. During the day's CA foreign affairs committee hearing, Santiago initially got irked because she couldn't understand what oppositor Chung Hing Wong (also known as Joseph Wong) was saying, even though he was speaking in English. "You offend me some more I'm gonna kick you out... your grammar is offensive to the chairperson," she told Wong, who immediately apologized to the feisty senator. But Santiago was angered once more after Wong failed to prove his claim that Del Rosario was directly involved in a syndicated estafa case pending before the Department of Justice (DOJ). "(He has) no evidence to prove that he (Del Rosario) has any personal criminal liability with respect to what appears to have been irregularities (in the transaction)," she told her CA members. "Ang lakas naman ng loob mo pumunta dito... ano ka ba, abogado ka ba (You have a lot of nerve to come here, what are you, are you a lawyer)," she then told Wong. Wong replied, claiming he was the victim but his response only infuriated Santiago some more. "I know pero sana nagsama ka ng abogado, alam mo ang panahon namin dito ay gipit na gipit. Lahat kami naka-Amerikana at handang-handang magtrabaho (but you should have brought a lawyer. You know that were are pressed for time. We are all even wearing suits and ready to work and this is what you give us)," she said. "Ang lakas ng loob mo... that is contemptous kasi binabastos mo kami dito (You have a lot of nerve, that is contemptous because you are disrespecting us)," she added. She later on dismissed the complaint and warned the oppositor not to repeat what he did. "This committee dismisses the complaint, wag mo na ulitin yan. (Don't ever do that again)," she said. The nomination of Del Rosario was confirmed by the bicameral body, along with that of Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes. Not the first time This was not the first time that Santiago flared up during a Commission on Appointments hearing. Last year, Santiago scolded those present during a CA hearing after a cellular phone rang while nominee Philippine Ambassador to China Francisco Bendicto was answering a question of the commission. — RSJ, GMA News

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