It was in the news that Hon. Sen. Miriam Santiago walks out from an important meeting. And we wanna know why?
So here's a preview of what happened, based from the story of Maila Ager of Inquirer.net who covered the proceedings the CA hearing:
Santiago, who was presiding over the hearing of the CA’s committee on foreign affairs, blew her top when Ilocos Norte Representative Rodolfo Farinas questioned the absence of the quorum, which he said was required to recommend the confirmation of a nominee.
The hearing started at 11 a.m. with only Santiago and Fariñas present in the room.
“May I just make a clarification, is this a public hearing or is this the hearing of the committee proper? Because if it’s a public hearing, then we can proceed with the presence of the chairman and one other member but it if it’s a meeting recommending to plenary the appointments of these officials… we need majority of the members (of the committee),” Fariñas said.
We don't usually cover politics or issues that roots from it. But whenever we hear her speak, it's always with conviction, power, and wit. We can't help but admire her enthusiasm, her fondness of social media and bloggers.
Whether you're a fan of her or not, you can always get true life hacks and logical things on how things should be. There's always that quotable quotes from her comedic, yet true and deep thoughts every time she speaks that we can learn from.
Read her official statement why she did walk out of the CA hearing, released on Miriam Santiago's Facebook fan page:
' I walked out, because of the intransigence and discourtesy shown to me by the House panel of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Commission on Appointments.
The Rules of the Commission on Appointments describes the quorum at a public hearing, thus: “The presence of the chair; or vice-chair; or at least three members shall be sufficient for conducting public hearings, and acting on motions and other incidents. (Art. 6, “Investigation of the Committees, Sec. 2).
Black’s Law Dictionary 9th edition 2009, defines a quorum as: “The minimum number who must be present for a deliberative assembly to legally transact business.”
Therefore, as committee chair, I am the quorum and possess the power to legally transact business. Today, the panel from the House of Representatives insisted that I should wait for the absentee members who, unknown to me, were reportedly attending a speech by Pres. Aquino.
If they were late, that was their privilege. But I humbly submit that those representatives do not have a right to cause further delay on the nominations of some 50 nominees from the DFA. The hearing was scheduled for 11:00 a.m., and yet at that very late hour, most of the House panel were still absent!
In law, there is a principle called estoppel by laches. This is the doctrine that denies relief to a person who has unreasonably delayed or been negligent in asserting a claim. The representative who raised a question of order tried to read from the Rules of the Commission on Appointments under Art. 4, entitled “Meetings of the Committee.”
Obviously, a “meeting” under Art. 4 is different from a “public hearing” under Art. 6. He tried to argue that the quorum should be a majority of the members.
I have news for him. I have been chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the CA for some 10 years. During all that time – nearly a decade – I conducted the hearings on the basis of the provision that my presence alone as chair is a quorum.
Therefore, if he questions my judgment, he is in estoppel by laches, a legal term that means “unreasonable delay in pursuing a claim.”
As a senator suffering from lung cancer stage 4, I purposely willed myself back to work, to show that cancer can be licked. In this spirit, since I am staring death in the face, I will no longer compromise, mollify, or appease those who do not obey the rules. Instead, I will speak truth to power. I will try to help run this government properly, to my last breath.'
Sen. Miriam also teases us with her plans. A plan to lead the country by 2016
Do you agree? Who do you think will be her best running mate?
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