Miriam says FVR could be candidate for admission to mental institution

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago claimed yesterday that former President Fidel Ramos could be a candidate for admission to a mental institution after he challenged her to invite fugitive Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi to the Philippines to attend a Senate public hearing.

“So, any person who will do that is possibly a candidate for some institution, probably mental,” Santiago said.

She said Ramos is out of his mind daring her to call Gadhafi to a Senate hearing, as well as former US ambassador Kristie Kenney over the allegations that came out in WikiLeaks cable.

“He (Ramos) is now out of his mind. I think the stress of the presidency, for which he was unprepared in the first place, has been too much and has already gone off his rocker,” Santiago said.

“Biro mo ipa-summon niya sa (imagine, he wants to summon to the) Blue Ribbon (committee hearing) si Ghadafi na hindi nga mahanap-hanap ng (who can’t be found by the) major powers of the world, they are all searching for him on the basis of the warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court.”

WikiLeaks reported that Ramos accepted an illegal campaign contribution from Gadhafi worth P5 million for the 1992 presidential election.

“The challenge is geriatric ranting and raving. You know it’s completely ridiculous. Isn’t this man acquainted with foreign affairs? Isn’t he acquainted with political science that we have no jurisdiction over any foreign national, much less another head of state?” Santiago said.

Santiago thinks Ramos is ignorant about international laws.

“I think I will educate him in the International Criminal Court because that’s what I am going to campaign for. I think my first order of duty should be to educate an ignoramus about how jurisdiction can be obtained over a foreign national,” she said.

Santiago has filed a resolution for two Senate committees to investigate Ramos for the crime of accepting an illegal campaign contribution from a foreign source.

The senator said Ramos is in a state of deep panic.

“He (Ramos) wants to cover up the fact that an American cable to the US State Department has been published on the Internet claiming that he received P5 million. He is trying to make it appear that I am the person who is accusing him,” she said.

“I had nothing to do with the US cable nor with WikiLeaks,” Santiago added.

She said that Ramos should understand that no congressional committee has the power to summon a foreigner, unless he is being investigated for a crime committed on Philippine territory.

Santiago had claimed that Ramos stole the 1992 presidential election, and then proceeded to persecute her with a graft case filed at the Sandiganbayan, which was eventually dismissed for lack of evidence.

“I am a laureate of the Magsaysay award for government service. Ramos is not a laureate of the Magsaysay award. End of debate,” she said, referring to her Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service in 1998. The Magsaysay Award is the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize.