POBRE v. DEFENSOR-SANTIAGO A.C. No.

7399

FACTS:
In one of her privilege speeches before the Senate, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago delivered the
following remarks:

x x x 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 a different environment than in a Supreme Court of idiots. x x
x

Her speech came as a response to the decision of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) declaring that only
sitting members of the Supreme Court can be nominated for the impending vacancy of the CJ post.
Consequently, nominees who were not incumbent members of the Court, including Sen. Defensor-
Santiago, were automatically disqualified.

Private complainant Antero J. Pobre filed the instant petition before the Court, contending that the lady
senator's utterances amounted to a total disrespect towards then CJ Panganiban and a direct contempt
of Court. Accordingly, he wanted disbarment proceedings or other disciplinary actions to be taken
against Sen. Defensor-Santiago.

ISSUE:
Whether or not there is a ground for Sen. Defensor-Santiago to be disbarred or subjected to disciplinary
action by the Court for her questioned speech.

HELD:
No, the Court sided with Sen. Defensor-Santiago's defense that she should be afforded parliamentary
immunity from suit pursuant to Section 11, Art. VI of the 1987 Constitution, which section states in part
that "no [Senator] x x x shall be questioned nor be held liable in any other place for any speech or debate
in the Congress or in any committee thereof." Although there was no express admission on the part of
the lady senator that she did indeed say those words, there was no categorical denial either, which the
Court ultimately regarded as an implied admission.