A.C. No. 7399 – 613 Phil. 352 – Political Law – Constitutional Law – The Legislative Department – Parliamentary Immunity – Privileged Speech
Legal Ethics – Duty to the Courts – Use of Respectful Language
In 2006, the Judicial and bar Council began accepting applications for the soon to be vacated office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago submitted her application but allegedly, the JBC informed her and others that only sitting Justices of the Supreme Court will be considered for the position. This caused Sen. Miriam to deliver a speech in the Senate which contained the following:
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.
As a result, Antero Pobre filed an administrative case with the Supreme Court against Sen. Miriam for her to be disciplined as a lawyer.
ISSUE: Whether or not Sen. Miriam may be subjected to a disciplinary action as a lawyer for her speech.
HELD: No. Her speech is covered by parliamentary immunity in accordance with Sec. 11, Art. VI of the 1987 Constitution: “No member shall be questioned nor be held liable in any other place for any speech or debate in the Congress or in any committee thereof.”
Nevertheless, the SC reminded her of her duties as a lawyer. Sen. Miriam belongs to the legal profession bound by the exacting injunction of a strict Code. Society has entrusted that profession with the administration of the law and dispensation of justice.
The SC however noted that the Senate, under its Rules on Unparliamentary Acts and Language, enjoins a Senator from using, under any circumstance, “offensive or improper language against another Senator or against any public institution.”
If any, it is the Senate that has the power to discipline Sen. Miriam as its member as Sen. Miriam clearly violated their Rules.
