Miriam: Palace 'movement' placing PNoy in 'legal peril'

A "movement" within Malacañang that is putting President Benigno Aquino III in "legal peril," Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago Monday said. This movement is causing conflicts between the executive and the judiciary over the situation of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said Santiago in an interview with reporters. "All of this is the fault of certain people, of a movement within Malacañang that is following blind vengeance against Rep. Arroyo. They are putting President Aquino in legal peril," she said. She refused to name the people behind the movement. "Credibility is very fragile. Once you have undone it, you cannot bring it back. So if they keep on doing this to the Supreme Court, it is possible that the public will think that this is an administration not bent on justice but on vengeance," the senator added. The executive and the judiciary branches of government are at loggerheads over the plight of Mrs. Arroyo, the incumbent Pampanga Second District representative, who is under hospital arrest for alleged electoral fraud, after Malacañang ignored a Supreme Court temporary restraining order (TRO) against government’s watch list order on the former President. On Friday, the Commission on Elections filed an electoral sabotage complaint against Mrs. Arroyo before a Pasay City regional trial court, when then issued an arrest order against her. Santiago said the movement "has for the moment captured the president’s ear and has been buzzing around his ear for an intolerable period of time" and has persuaded the President that this is what should be done. The "members" of the movement are not lawyers, which makes the situation more problematic, she said. 'Overweening ignorance' "So they think that they can just have their way, which is the basic principle of people who eventually become tyrants or dictators," she said. "That is the problem: overweening ignorance. You are so proud that you can do anything although you are not fully aware of what the law says can lead to disastrous effects," she said. Santiago noted that Justice Sec. Leila de Lima is being used as a "bad poster girl of justice" because she refused to obey the SC rulings. "But actually it was the instigation of this movement inside Malacañang that forced her hand. She is just a subordinate. She has to follow orders. It is [those] people in the shadows who should come out. Then we could hail them to the Supreme Court for contempt," she said. "There are always several cliques around the president. They are always fighting each other. I think it is in the nature of the presidency and maybe it is time for the President to lend the other ear to the lawyers in his staff," she added. Santiago said that as a member of the Commission on Appointments, she will not allow any member of the said movement to get confirmation. "I think they are doing a disservice to the President, but also the country," she said. — VS, GMA News