• __

---------------------------------------------------------
Pobre v. Defensor Santiago
Class Topic/Badge: Parliamentary Immunity
A.C. No. 7399 August 25, 2009
FULL TEXT: https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2009/aug2009/ac_7399_2009.html
PONENTE: VELASCO, JR., J.: PRESBITERO J. VELASCO, JR.
shall be questioned nor be held liable in any other place for any
speech or debate in the Congress or in any committee thereof."
ISSUE
Whether or not Miriam Defensor-Santiago can be charged for her
comments on the Judiciary

Ruling:

No. The court ruled in favor of Defensor-Santiago in this case. The

plea of Senator Santiago for the dismissal of the complaint for
disbarment or disciplinary action is well taken. Indeed, her
Presbitero Jose Velasco Jr. is privilege speech is not actionable criminally or in a disciplinary
the current Governor of proceeding under the Rules of Court.
Marinduque and was a
former Associate Justice Despite this, the court feels that the lady senator has gone
beyond the limits of decency and good conduct for the
statements made which were intemperate and highly improper
in substance. The court is not hesitant to impose some form of
disciplinary sanctions on her, but the factual and legal
circumstances of this case, however, deter the Court from doing
so, even without any sign of remorse from her.
DECISION/FALLO
“WHEREFORE, the letter-complaint of Antero J. Pobre against The petition is dismissed.
Senator/Atty. Miriam Defensor-Santiago is, conformably to Art.
VI, Sec. 11 of the Constitution, DISMISSED.
---------------------------------------------------------
SO ORDERED.”

Facts:

Petitioner Antero Pobre made aware to the court the contents of

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s speech delivered on the
senate floor. The following excerpts are the ones in question:

“I am not angry. I am irate. I am foaming in the mouth. I am

homicidal. I am suicidal. I am humiliated, debased, degraded.
And I am not only that, I feel like throwing up to be living my
middle years in a country of this nature. I am nauseated. I spit on
the face of Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and his cohorts in
the Supreme Court, I am no longer interested in the position of
Chief Justice if I was to be surrounded by idiots. I would rather be
in another environment but not in the Supreme Court of idiots.”

According to Pobre, the words of the lady senator were

disrespectful and requested that the latter be disbarred or be
subjected to disciplinary action.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago argued that the statements

she made were covered by the constitutional provision on
parliamentary immunity, being part of a speech she delivered in
the discharge of her duty as member of Congress or its
committee. She claims to have made those comments to expose
anomalies with regard to the selection process of the Judicial Bar
Council for the next Chief Justice.

The argument of the respondent is based on Article VI Section 11

which states that:

"A Senator or Member of the House of Representative shall, in all

offenses punishable by not more than six years imprisonment, be
privileged from arrest while the Congress is in session. No member