|
By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
SENATOR Miriam Defensor- Santiago urged the
Senate Monday to cite for contempt a newspaper contributor who hit
her at a personal level, charging that the media blitz against her
was funded by “a certain group [who is] against the ZTE loan
agreement.”
She did not identify the contributor or the
newspaper in her privileged speech but she was obviously referring
to one Edmund Sicam, a contributor of The Philippine Daily Inquirer
who wrote a piece “Senators as TV performers” in the paper’s
Sunday edition.
“He did not refute my arguments, but
concentrated on my personality and on my personal characteristics. I
was hit on a personal level, which is unethical, unfair, and implies
that he is a hired gun, shooting me down for money. This is beneath
despicable,” a fuming Santiago said.
Sicam referred to Santiago’s “grating voice,
sour face and aggressive demeanor” in saying she did not register
well with those who were viewing the live telecast of the ZTE
investigation. Santiago said this was a violation of the
Journalists’ Code of Ethics. She also questioned why the article
came out on page one and not in the opinion page.
She recalled that when the Senate was attacked
collectively or singly on a personal level, a court ordered the
writer to show cause why he should not be held in contempt.
She said that the Senate should also have in its
rules a provision ordering a reporter attacking a senator personally
to show cause why he should not be cited for contempt, also by the
Senate.
“I am sick to my eyeballs of these corrupt and
expensive media campaigns, always trying to destroy me personally,
particularly when I have just scored a point that meets with
approval by the general public,” Santiago said.
She claimed that the group financing the alleged
media blitz wanted to get its hands on the P1.5-billion
“kickback” of the $330-million national broadband network
project, and that it could be allied with the political opposition
or the “Oust Gloria” group.
She challenged her detractors to come out in the
open and identify themselves so she could engage them in a
“showdown at the OK Corral in full view of the TV public.”
|
