Miriam FB page reaches 1-M ‘likes’

MANILA, Philippines - Fuelled by Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago’s privilege speech last Dec. 4 against the pork barrel scandal and its alleged mastermind, more than a million clicked “like” on her official Facebook fan page the following day.

According to the administrators of her Facebook page, a photo of Santiago thanking her followers was posted on her Facebook account last Dec. 5.

The photo garnered 255,838 likes, 6,232 comments, 4,189 shares, and reached nearly three million users by the end of the day. As of yesterday, the count stood at 1,055,376 likes.

Santiago proved her popularity among the youth by drawing to the Senate some 300 students from 15 universities who watched her deliver her oration against what she called “the forces of darkness.”

The universities represented included: UP Diliman, UP Manila, UP College of Law, De La Salle University, University of Sto. Tomas, Far Eastern University, San Beda Law Student Council, Adamson University, Lyceum of the Philippines, Fatima University, Centro Escolar University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, West Visayas State University, Bulacan State University, and La Verdad Christian College.

The students overflowed the Senate gallery, and about half of them had to stay in a separate hall to watch Santiago speech on TV.

Santiago was later mobbed by the students, who she accommodated by granting photo ops for each university delegation. She was showered with hugs, kisses on her hand, and vigorous handshakes, which nearly caused her to lose balance due to her chronic fatigue syndrome. 

In social media, Santiago trended on Twitter immediately after starting her speech. She went viral after she made reference to the popular book trilogy and movie franchise, The Hunger Games during her speech.

Netizens responded with “photoshopped” images of Santiago in movie stills from the movie. Even Sen. Pia Cayetano tweeted about Santiago holding out three fingers, a gesture associated with the Hunger Games heroine played by actress Jennifer Lawrence. In the movie, the gesture is a reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated.

Meanwhile, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said a truce should be on the word war between Santiago and Senate minority leader Juan Ponce Enrile and not on an investigation into Enrile’s alleged crimes committed during martial law.

Trillanes said Santiago’s statements on Enrile’s alleged illegal activities, ranging from illegal logging to killings during martial law, should be investigated by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). The Senate may also start a probe once the speech is referred to the Blue Ribbon committee, he said.

“I believe that the privilege speech of Sen. Miriam was not only made to defend herself from the personal attacks made by Sen. Enrile but it also contained valuable information that could be used as basis for further investigation,” Trillanes said.

“I believe we ought to focus on the content of her speech rather than the style with which she said it,” he added.

For his part, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano has recommended that the Senate review its own Code of Ethics in the light of Santiago’s controversial privilege speech.

“Allegations thrown in the Miriam-Enrile word war should be investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) or Ombudsman, while Senate reviews and strengthens its own Code of Ethics,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano added that the DOJ and the Ombudsman should act on Santiago’s revelations against Enrile rather than keep silent on issues.

After her scathing privilege speech, Santiago wrote Justice Secretary Leila de Lima a letter seeking a probe on Enrile.

Trillanes and Cayetano also engaged Enrile in a bitter conflict early this year when they confronted the veteran senator over his alleged favoritism in giving out Christmas bonuses last year. 

Santiago also blew her top after she learned from Sen. Pia Cayetano that they did not get special bonuses from the Enrile leadership in December last year.

Enrile explained then that the amounts were not Christmas bonuses but were actually part of maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), which he gave out as part of his prerogative as Senate president.

Palace won’t block DOJ probe

Malacañang, for its part, said it would not block the DOJ from investigating Enrile.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said yesterday over dzRB that the move was part of the DOJ’s mandate.

The comment came after De Lima said she was particularly considering an investigation into Enrile’s alleged involvement in illegal activities in the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) as insinuated by Santiago.

“Offhand, we can look into allegations pertaining to alleged smuggling, alleged illegal logging, and alleged gambling, especially online, those related to CEZA,” De Lima said.

She also said the government had in fact initiated an investigation into online gambling operations at CEZA during the tenure of the late Interior secretary Jesse Robredo.

“The Philippine National Police has undertaken operations against online gambling there but the operators justified it on the basis of license issued by the CEZA. They were also able to get temporary restraining order (TRO) from local courts and even turned the tables on the law enforcers,” De Lima recalled. – With Christina Mendez, Aurea Calica