Miriam Defensor Santiago's Blog, page 7

MIRIAM BILLS TO PROTECT PUBLIC TRANSPORT

To protect commuters from risks caused by pilferage of train tracks, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago today pushed for measures aimed at imposing stringent penalties against persons who steal public transportation vehicles or related fixtures.

Santiago, a multi-awarded trial court judge, is set to file the the Public Transport Preservation Bill  which seeks to amend Act No. 3815, also known as the Penal Code, and the Anti-Fencing of Government Property Bill, which will amend Presidential Decree No. 1612, also known as the Anti-Fencing Law.

“The perennial issues of congestion, unreliability, and deterioration of our train systems must be addressed, but we must also ensure that any solution presented will not be for naught because of thieves who saw off train tracks and sell them for cheap,” Santiago said.

Under the Public Transport Preservation Bill, penalties for robbery will be one degree higher than that prescribed in the present law if the crime involves pilferage of public transportation vehicles, spare parts, safety devices, fixtures, or equipment.

If enacted, the Anti-Fencing of Government Property Bill will also increase penalties one degree higher than that prescribed in the present law for any person found guilty of buying or selling public transport-related items obtained through theft or robbery.

“When you steal anything related to public transport, you are not only committing the crime of theft or robbery but also exposing to danger hundreds of thousands of commuters who rely on public transport on a daily basis,” the senator said.

Citing government data, the senator said that more than one million Filipinos use train lines in Metro Manila every day. All four railways—the PNR, the Metro Rail Transit, and the Light Rail Transit—have in recent years been plagued by complaints from the riding public.

Santiago’s bills come amid the arrest of three persons suspected of stealing rail joints, angle bars, and rail clips of the Philippine National Railway (PNR) track near Taguig City. The missing parts were blamed for a recent derailment that hurt some 50 passengers.

The senator remains on medical leave due to lung cancer, stage four, but she continues to perform her legislative functions on a priority basis. As of May 14, Santiago has filed 1,249 bills and resolutions—the highest among senators—from the start of the 16th Congress in June 2013.

11 SENATORS BACK MIRIAM’S BBL REPORT

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago on Wednesday announced that at least 11 other senators are supporting the view that the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) should substantially be revised if it is to withstand legal scrutiny before the Supreme Court.

An overwhelming majority of the 14-member Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes signed the report Santiago, as chair, transmitted to the committee on local government, the primary committee contemplating the BBL.

Aside from Santiago, senators who signed the report were committee vice chair Koko Pimentel, acting minority leader Tito Sotto, and committee members Sonny Angara, Jinggoy Estrada, TG Guingona, Gringo Honasan, Lito Lapid, Bongbong Marcos, and Cynthia Villar.

Senate president pro tempore Ralph Recto and Senate majority leader Alan Peter Cayetano, ex-officio members, also expressed their support for the report. This brings the total number of senators who signed the committee report to 12.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, another vice chair of the committee, is out of the country and had no chance to review the report. Senate minority leader Juan Ponce Enrile, an ex-officio member, did not sign because he has not studied the matter fully, his staff said.

“By affixing their signatures in the committee report, senators are agreeing with the conclusion that the present BBL draft is essentially unconstitutional. I expect that more of my colleagues will adopt the same view on the Senate floor,” Santiago said.

The senator in her committee report claimed that if approved in its present form, the draft BBL will be challenged in the Supreme Court for doubts on its constitutionality, particularly on issues of sovereignty, autonomy, the creation of a sub-state, and territorial integrity.

“The Bangsamoro Basic Law has much merit, but its promulgation requires constitutional amendment or revision; mere legislation will not suffice, and will spark Supreme Court litigation,” said the report, which was released to the media last week.

To produce the report, Santiago’s committee conducted two public hearings on the BBL. Resource persons included presidential adviser on the peace process Teresita Quintos Deles, government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer, and Moro Islamic Liberation Front leaders.

Santiago, considered the foremost constitutional expert in the Senate, also sought the opinion of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban; former Justices Florentino Feliciano and Vicente Mendoza; former UP Law Dean Merlin Magallona; and other experts.

The Santiago committee findings will either be consolidated with the reports of the committee on local government and the committee on peace, unification, and reconciliation, or adopted as an individual report. Either way, it is expected to form the basis of plenary debates.

The Palace hopes to pass the controversial measure before Congress adjourns sine die on June 10. At the House of Representatives, a BBL draft perceived to be the Malacañang version has hurdled the ad hoc committee and committee on ways and means.

The Senate is not as keen to rush approval, with the Marcos-led committee on local government slating a final hearing on June 3. After committee deliberations, the bill will enter a potentially grueling period of amendments, before being subjected to a plenary vote.

“Newspapers have predicted that the report of my committee will slow down Senate proceedings on the BBL draft. If so, then the report would have served its purpose. We need to consider the BBL with caution, not with haste,” Santiago said.

Final report on the proposed BBL by the Senate committee on constitutional amendments

MIRIAM WANTS TUITION HIKE PROBE

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said that she will file a resolution on Monday calling for a Senate inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the Commission on Higher Education’s recent approval of tuition hikes for some 300 private colleges and universities nationwide.

Santiago, co-author of the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (Unifast) Bill, said that Congress must consider drafting legislation to ensure that funds collected from increased school fees are not merely for profit.

“The CHED has issued guidelines for the use of funds derived from tuition increases, but we need to know how they ensure compliance with these rules. Is the submission of documentary requirements enough? Should there be onsite inspections?” the senator said.

She was referring to CHED Memorandum No. 03, issued in 2012, which states that 70 percent of proceeds from tuition increases should fund salary hikes for teachers and other school staff, while 20 percent should be used to improve buildings, equipment, and facilities.

The memorandum also mandates schools to hold public consultations before proposing higher fees. CHED regional offices have meanwhile been tasked under the issuance to monitor compliance with established policies on tuition increases.

Santiago warned, however, that the memorandum’s failure to require a clear breakdown of proceeds opens it to abuse. “A school can always say that it increased the faculty’s wages, renovated a building, or bought new computers, but how does it support such claims?” she said.

Her statement comes amid public outrage over a spike in tuition and other school fees for 313 colleges and universities. The CHED reported that it approved an average increase of P29.86 per unit or 6.17 percent for tuition, and P135.60 or 6.55 percent for other school fees.

The tuition hikes meanwhile coincided with the Senate’s approval of the Unifast Bill (Senate Bill No. 2679) on third and final reading. If enacted, the bill will harmonize all forms of student financial assistance programs, including scholarships, grants-in-aid, and student loans.

“We cannot applaud ourselves for approving the Unifast Bill while we sit and do nothing as school fees skyrocket. It would be as if we are broadening access to education on the one hand, and allowing it to be limited on the other,” Santiago said.

The Unifast Bill took into consideration two proposed laws and one resolution authored by Santiago on student financial assistance. These are:

(1) the Part-Time Independent Students Grant Bill (S.B. No. 2510), filed in December 2014, which seeks to provide financial assistance to Filipino college students who support their own education by working part-time;

(2) the National STEM Scholarship Database Bill (S.B. No. 1319), filed in August 2013, aimed at making more accessible to the public information on available funding for science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) courses; and

(3) Senate Resolution No. 338, filed during the wake of super typhoon Yolanda in November 2013, urging an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the need to institutionalize scholarship grants for students severely affected by calamities.

“Making education more accessible to the public should be a priority, right up there, if not taking precedence over, the fight against corruption. Corrupt politicians are threatened by an educated public,” the senator said.

Santiago is a known advocate of higher state funding for education. When the Priority Development Assistance Fund was still considered constitutional, she gave bulk of her share to the University of the Philippines System, including the Philippine General Hospital.

As of 14 May 2015, the senator has filed a total of 1,249 bills and resolutions since the 16th Congress started in June 2013. This made her the top-performing senator last year, despite having announced lung cancer, stage four, in July.

MIRIAM: NEW NAME WON’T CURE BBL

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago on Thursday said that changing the name of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) will not make it any less objectionable unless Congress also revamps the bill to address numerous “constitutional infirmities.”

Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes, was commenting on the House ad hoc committee’s approval of its version of the bill now called the draft “Basic Law of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.”

“The words ‘basic law’ are attached to the name. ‘Basic law,’ in legal construction, is a synonym for ‘constitutional law’ and ‘organic law,’” the senator said, citing her committee report on the BBL draft, pending as Senate Bill No. 2408.

Santiago added that the name itself showed that the BBL is intended to have the same effect as the “constitution” or “constitutional law” of the Bangsamoro territory, in the same manner that the 1987 Constitution is supreme in the territory of the Republic of the Philippines.

“It goes without saying that two different constitutional instruments cannot have legal effect at the same time and in the same territory. The proposed BBL must be consistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the Philippines,” she said.

The Santiago report is based on two public hearings on the draft BBL, where resource persons included former Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban; Associate Justices Florentino Feliciano and Vicente Mendoza; and former UP law dean Merlin Magallona.

Aside from Santiago, senators who signed the report include committee vice chair Sonny Angara, and members Jinggoy Estrada, Bongbong Marcos, Koko Pimentel, Tito Sotto, and Cynthia Villar. Senators Lito Lapid and Ralph Recto said they will sign the report Monday.

The 27-page document is one of three committee reports that will form the Senate’s position on the BBL effort. The two others will come from the committee on local government, the primary committee, and the committee on peace, unification, and reconciliation.

Copies of Santiago’s committee report on the draft BBL were released to the media as the ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives approved its version of the bill. Malacañang hopes to pass the proposed BBL before Congress adjourns sine die on June 10.

Constitutional amendment

“The committee on constitutional amendments appreciates the brilliant efforts of the hardworking men and women who put the BBL together. However, in its present state, the BBL raises many insidious doubts on constitutionality,” Santiago said.

She urged her colleagues not to approve the BBL with haste, stressing that the Senate and the House acting only by themselves cannot approve the proposed BBL in its present form. “It has to be promulgated by nothing less than an amendment to the Constitution,” she added.

Santiago also said that a constitutional amendment should apply the method prescribed by the Constitution itself—constitutional convention, constituent assembly, or people’s initiative—with revisions subject to ratification by the national electorate in a plebiscite.

Quoting U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall, she said: “The people made the Constitution and the people can unmake it… But the supreme and irresistible power to make or unmake resides only in the whole body of the people, not any subdivision of them.”

She nonetheless warned that insisting on changing the Constitution instead of amending the proposed BBL is “constitutional impiety,” and recommended in her committee report that the Senate version of the BBL substantially be revised.

“Instead of implying a transfer of sovereignty from the national government to the Bangsamoro Government, the BBL should observe the principle of subsidiarity as a way to allocate decision-making power,” the senator said in her first recommendation.

Santiago explained that in law, subsidiarity is the principle that a central authority’s function should be subsidiary, performing only tasks that cannot be performed effectively at a mere local level.

Her second recommendation is for the proposed BBL to provide a minimal threshold of competencies in order to ensure that the national sovereignty of the Philippines remains intact, and is not limited nor shared.

House version

Santiago said that the amendments the House ad hoc committee introduced in its version of the BBL draft failed to reconcile the bill with the Constitution, specifically on issues of sovereignty, autonomy, the creation of a sub-state, and territorial integrity.

She questioned the enumeration of powers in the BBL draft. The House panel retained three types: Reserved powers reside only on the national government; concurrent powers are shared; while exclusive powers rest solely on the Bangsamoro government.

“The concept of ‘concurrent powers’ and ‘exclusive powers’ tear asunder the supreme authority possessed by the sovereignty of the people. These will make the Bangsamoro government co-equal with the national government, and thus a subs-state,” the senator said.

Santiago particularly opposed the extensive taxing and revenue raising powers the BBL would give the Bangsamoro government. “Effectively, the Bangsamoro government will have seceded from, yet remain financially supported by the Philippine government,” she added.

The provision granting the Bangsamoro exclusive powers and use of natural resources found in the area also drew Santiago’s criticism. “Under constitutional language, nothing of value may be exclusively allocated to any territorial part of the Philippine archipelago,” she said.

The senator argued that although the BBL purports to be an exercise in local autonomy, “it bursts its bounds and turns into a part-sovereign state or a sub-state. The term ‘Bangsamoro territory’ implies that although it is under the jurisdiction of the Philippines, it is a separate part.”

She also claimed that the Bangsamoro territory is highly similar to the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), or the associative state, which the Supreme Court struck down in 2008 for posing the threat of territorial dismemberment.

Santiago urged BBL proponents to heed the Court, which found that the BJE “meets the criteria of a state laid down by the Montevideo Convention, namely, a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and a capacity to enter into relations with other states.”

Proof that the BBL would create a sub-state is the proposal for a parliamentary form of government despite the constitutional provision on Mindanao autonomy which limits the regional government to an executive department and a legislative assembly, she said.

Excess of decentralization

“The BBL seeks to establish a political entity so far unknown in the rest of constitutional democracies. While the Constitution takes care to define the limits of local autonomy, the BBL is vested with powers far beyond constitutional limits,” Santiago said.

She cautioned that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is “less-than-sovereign self-determination,” but the excess of decentralization under the BBL may lead to a spectre of “Balkanization,” the action of dividing an area into smaller, eventually hostile states.

While lauding the efforts of the proponents of the BBL, the senator said she doubts that the law, if enacted, will bring peace to Mindanao, especially as the MILF is not the only secessionist group active in the Philippines.

Other secessionists include the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), an older rebel group which earlier signed a peace pact with the government, but which cried foul over being left out in negotiations for the recently forged Bangsamoro peace deal.

The MILF is also struggling to manage the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a breakaway group blamed for several Mindanao bombings and charged with harboring international terrorists.

Recent reports have also claimed that leaders of the Sultanate of Sulu were also not consulted during negotiations for the draft BBL, and are now pushing that their area be recognized separate from the contemplated Bangsamoro territory.

Santiago in her report reminded her colleagues that the so-called peace effort is in fact a discussion between the government of a sovereign state and a group of leaders seeking to either overthrown or secede from the former.

In Santiago’s view, this is a peculiar situation because, ordinarily, peace is discussed between the sovereign and the rebels only after the former has militarily imposed its will on the latter. “Peace negotiations are not a substitute for military success,” she said.

“The BBL fails the twofold test set by the Constitution: national sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is presented as a formula for capping off the peace process in Mindanao. However, it bears repetition that the end does not justify the means,” Santiago said.

Read the full report:

Draft report on the proposed BBL by the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes…

Full text: Committee report on the proposed BBL

Read the full report on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law by the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes, chaired by Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago.

  Draft report on the proposed BBL by the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes… by MDSMedia

MIRIAM: RETURN TRASH TO CANADA

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago has filed a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the government should cite an international agreement to force Canada to take back mountains of garbage illegally exported into Philippine soil.

In Senate Resolution No. 1341, Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations, said that under the Basel Convention, Canada is responsible for some 50 container vans of waste now sitting in Philippine ports.

“This issue goes beyond waste management and threatens our sovereignty. I am alarmed that the government seems willing to say that we are an international trash bin out of fear of ruffling Canada’s feathers,” the senator said.

Officials from the executive have earlier ruled out negotiations to return the illegal shipment to Canada. A multi-agency task force has also allegedly agreed to locally process the garbage, which includes household waste such as used adult diapers.

“The decision to process the waste in the Philippines upon the request of the Canadian government sets a dangerous precedent for other countries to dump their waste in Philippine soil with impunity,” Santiago said.

She also rejected the view that the waste shipment was purely a commercial transaction between Ontario-based Chronic, Inc. and its Philippine counterpart Chronic Plastics, leaving no obligation for Canada to take the garbage back.

The senator cited the Basel Convention, Article 9 (2), which says that:

In case of a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes deemed to be illegal traffic as the result of conduct on the part of the exporter or generator, the State of export shall ensure that the wastes in question are:

(a) taken back by the exporter or the generator or, if necessary, by itself into the State of export, or, if impracticable,

(b) are otherwise disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this Convention,

within 30 days from the time the State of export has been informed about the illegal traffic or such other period of time as States concerned may agree. To this end the Parties concerned shall not oppose, hinder or prevent the return of those wastes to the State of export…

She added that the garbage from Canada is covered by this provision in the Basel Convention, noting that Annex 2 of the international agreement explains that “other wastes” include those collected from households.

“The arduousness of complaint or arbitration mechanisms before an international tribunal should not hinder the government from asserting that the export of wastes from Canada violates the Basel Convention,” the senator said.

This is not the first time Santiago filed a resolution related to the Canada garbage export. Last year, she filed Senate Resolution No. 919, urging her colleagues to investigate the issue in aid of legislation.

Santiago is on medical leave due to lung cancer, stage four, but remains the top performer in the Senate. She filed 1,007 bills and resolutions from the start of the 16th Congress in June 2013 up to the last session day in 2014.

MIRIAM: CRIMINALIZE FIRE, BUILDING CODE VIOLATIONS

Amid public outrage over the fire that killed dozens in Valenzuela City Wednesday, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago pushed for the approval of a bill that would make building owners criminally liable for failure to comply with fire safety laws.

Santiago, a multi-awarded trial court judge, filed Senate Bill No. 2530 in December 2014. The bill seeks to hold owners or lessors of residential or commercial building responsible for death, injury, and/or loss of property resulting from fire.

“Disasters such as the one in Valenzuela are unacceptable when we have laws that are supposed to minimize fire hazards and rule out fire traps. The only explanation is that these laws are not feared. We should give them more teeth,” the senator said.

As of press time, 72 have been confirmed dead from the seven-hour fire that gutted Kentex Manufacturing Corp., a slipper factory in Valenzuela. Police said some 26 people remain missing and 30 more have been injured.

Initial investigation suggested that the victims, mostly factory workers, ran up the second floor, only to be trapped due to locked windows. The victims likely died of suffocation from thick black smoke distinctly produced from burning rubber.

Under Santiago’s proposed bill, owners or lessors may face life imprisonment if fire incidents in their residential or commercial buildings result in death. They will also be required to indemnify victims’ families P1 million each.

Building owners or lessors will also be required to pay victims who suffer injuries or losses from fire following this scheme:

(1) P500,000 plus the equivalent of one year’s expected salary each if the victims suffer serious physical injuries;

(2) P200,000 to P300,000 plus the equivalent of six months of expected salary each if the victims suffer less than serious or slight physical injuries; or

(3) the sum of the value of property lost, burned, or damaged.

At present, penalties for failure to comply with R.A. No. 9514, also known as the Fire Code, and R.A. No. 6541, also known as the Building Code, are limited to fines, the closure of buildings, or the revocation of permits.

“Stringent punishment will command wider adherence to existing laws, and hopefully mitigate damage, injury, and death due to fire,” the senator said.

She is also set to file a resolution on Monday calling for a Senate inquiry on alleged labor rights violations related to the fire. Groups charged that the workers of the Valenzuela factory are underpaid, without hazard pay, and deprived of social security.

Santiago remains on medical leave due to her lung cancer, stage four, but continues to be top-performing senator. She filed a total of 1,007 bills and resolutions from the start of the 16th Congress in June 2013 until the last session day of 2014.

MIRIAM BILLS TO BOOST TOURISM, PROTECT TOURISTS

As tourists continue to flock Philippine summer destinations, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is pushing for new laws aimed at promoting tourism while protecting the traveling public.

Santiago, the consistent Senate topnotcher in filing bills and resolutions, recently authored four bills aimed at increasing access to beaches and ensuring public safety.

In filing the Public Beach Bill (Senate Bill No. 2732), the senator wants to mandate local government units (LGUs) to identify beaches open to the public and establish access to these areas.

“We like calling the Philippines ‘the beach capital of Asia,’ but access to shorelines and other coastal areas is impeded by conflicting laws and overlapping jurisdiction,” Santiago said.

She added that this led to absence of clear regulations regarding the use and management of marine and coastal resources; poor zoning and planning; and weak enforcement of public access rights.

If enacted, the Public Beach Bill will direct LGUs and concerned agencies to draw rights-of-way to shorelines or coastal areas open to the public, and put up conspicuous signs for public beaches.

It will meanwhile prohibit anyone from hindering access to identified public beaches; from dumping wastes and quarrying in such areas; and from removing, obstructing, or vandalizing public beach signs.

“There should be universal beach access with due consideration to private property rights and without compromising conservation efforts and coastal management programs,” the senator said.

Santiago also filed the First Aid in Resorts Bill (S.B. No. 2733), which seeks to increase penalties for resorts that fail to provide one lifeguard per 20 meters of shoreline, and first aid personnel, supplies, and equipment.

In her Lifeguard Bill (S.B. No. 2678), Santiago wants owners of pools and other aquatic facilities to hire one lifeguard for every 250 square meters of pool area. Such lifeguards should man the pool during all hours of operation.

“With the increasing number of travelers, it is incumbent upon the government to ensure the safety of tourists, both local and foreign,” the senator said.

She cited Department of Tourism data, which showed that some 4.6 million foreigners visited the country last year. Domestic tourism is also flourishing amid a regime of travel promos and lower air fares.

Aside from protecting tourists from accidents or untoward incidents, Santiago is also campaigning against the practice of harassing tourists into buying local products by filing the Anti-Tourism Harassment Bill (S.B. No. 2727).

“We need to encourage responsible marketing among our local vendors and service providers and curb the practice of repeatedly and aggressively soliciting business from unwilling tourists,” the senator noted.

Santiago remains on medical leave due to lung cancer, stage four, but she performs her duties on a priority basis. Earlier this year, she presided over public hearings on the Bangsamoro Basic Law, on the Jennifer Laude case, and on six treaties.

From the start of the 16th Congress in June 2013 up to the end of 2014, Santiago filed a total of 1,007 bills and resolutions, outperforming all of her colleagues.

MIRIAM BILL ENSURES LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR OFWS

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago on Thursday filed a bill to ensure that the government’s legal assistance fund will immediately and continuously be made available to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) whose charges abroad might put them under life sentence or death penalty.

Santiago, an elected judge of the International Criminal Court, filed Senate Bill No. 2739, which seeks to amend R.A. No. 8042, the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, by expanding the legal assistance fund managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

If amended, the law will guarantee that the legal assistance fund shall at all times be made available from the time of arrest or charging up to the trial, and at all levels of appeal, for migrant workers facing charges with the prescribed penalty of life imprisonment or death.

Santiago’s proposal comes as the country follows the case of Mary Jane Veloso, a convicted drug mule in Indonesia. Veloso’s execution was stayed after the Philippines appealed that she be allowed to testify in proceedings here against her alleged illegal recruiter.

“Mary Jane Veloso lives for now, but she is still on death row. The government may have persuaded Indonesia to postpone the execution, but it appears that it has failed to make sure there is no death sentence in the first place,” the senator said.

Santiago assailed the government’s failure to immediately provide lawyers who will see Veloso through Indonesia’s criminal proceedings. Veloso reportedly had no counsel when her initial testimonies were recorded, and was assisted during trial by an unlicensed translator.

Indonesia sentenced Veloso to death in 2010. The Philippines appealed for clemency in 2011, saying that Veloso is a victim of an international syndicate using unsuspecting OFWs as drug couriers. The appeal was rejected in January 2015, and Veloso was scheduled for execution.

“Must we always resort to last-minute remedies? Must we wait for Filipinos to be put behind foreign bars or sentenced to death before we act?” Santiago said.

At present, R.A. No. 8042 and its implementing rules allow access to the legal assistance fund only in the absence of a counsel de oficio or court-appointed lawyer or, at all instances, upon conviction and the penalty meted is life imprisonment or death.

Other than these two instances, access to the fund is not mandatory, and amounts may be disbursed only under meritorious circumstances as determined by the Udersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs.

Santiago said that this led embattled Filipinos abroad to entrust their fates in the hands of foreign court-appointed lawyers who most likely cannot sufficiently communicate to the OFWs in distress in a language that the OFWs know.

“Worse, OFWs are left to fend for themselves completely without competent legal assistance at the time of their arrest all the way to trial proper—a crucial period where legal assistance is most needed,” the senator added.

Congress has raised the legal assistance fund to P100 million this year from P30 million in 2014, but Malacañang, in its veto message, placed it under appropriations approved for “conditional implementation,” citing lack of income sources for the creation of the special fund.

This, despite the fact that personal remittances from OFWs increased to some $27 billion last year from some $25 billion in 2013, based on central bank data. There were some 2.2 million OFWs in 2013, the latest figures from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

“If the country is to continue to allow the export of our labor force, it is imperative that we do not abandon distressed OFWs to life behind bars or even death without giving them the competent and timely legal assistance they need and deserve,” Santiago said.

The senator, who remains on medical leave due to her lung cancer, stage four, earlier prodded her colleagues to act on pending measures to protect OFWs. Such measures include at least five resolutions she authored, urging Senate inquiries in aid of legislation.

MIRIAM: END SELF-SERVING PRACTICE OF RESISTING SUSPENSION

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago on Friday called for an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on elective officials’ practice of barricading their offices and calling for mass action to resist suspension or removal by authorities.

In a resolution she is set to file on Monday, Santiago, one of the leading constitutionalists in the country, urged her colleagues to determine the need for a law punishing officials who launch mass protests to bar the service of their suspension or removal orders.

“I am alarmed that the brazen act of resisting suspension is becoming normal practice. What makes elective officials think that they are indisputably entitled to their offices? They are not absolute rulers; they are subject to the law,” the senator said.

Her statement comes as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the Ombudsman’s power to suspend Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay. In March, Binay obstinately stayed in his office despite being preventively suspended.

Binay’s supporters also allegedly barred agents of the Department of Interior and Local Government from entering Makati City Hall to implement the suspension. The authorities were forced to post the suspension order instead of serving it.

Interpellated by justices in the Supreme Court, Binay lawyers admitted that the Makati mayor defied the Ombudsman, and did not leave his office pending a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals.

“While officials are entitled to relief from penalty, in the form of temporary restraining orders or injunctions, they must seek such from the proper venue and, pending such relief, humbly step down from office,” Santiago said.

Aside from the case of Binay, also cited in Santiago’s resolution were the cases of ousted Laguna Governor ER Ejercito, who the Commission on Elections in 2014 found guilty of overspending, and Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia, who was suspended by Malacanang in 2013.

“In all these cases, the officials facing penalty insisted on due process yet refused to respect the same. This contradiction only shows how self-serving our elective officials have become,” the senator said.

Santiago added that barricades in favor of elective officials being penalized threaten to disrupt the delivery of public services. She cited the case of Makati, where employees were confused between orders from Binay and then acting mayor Kid Peña.

She also warned that such practice inevitably erodes the punitive power of government authorities such as the Office of the Ombudsman, the Civil Service Commission, and the Department of Interior and Local Government.

“If left unchecked, this deplorable practice will embolden officials to be corrupt. We must protect the integrity of institutions that mete out penalties in upholding the constitutional principle that public office is a public trust,” Santiago said.

She noted, however, that any measure the Senate will contemplate against the practice of resisting suspension should focus on prohibiting elective officials from supporting or financing mass barricades to their benefit, especially using public funds.

“The right to assemble is enshrined in the Constitution. But in cases like this, we should ask: Did the supporters assemble voluntarily or were they paid or given incentives? If it is the latter, were public funds used?” Santiago said.

The senator, who remains on medical leave due to her lung cancer, stage four, has earlier filed Senate Bill No. 2716, amending the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act to make public officials liable for offenses committed in past terms.

Santiago said the bill rejects the so-called doctrine of condonation, a legal view invoked by the Binay camp in claiming that the Makati mayor should not be prosecuted over the alleged overpricing of the Makati parking building.