EDITORIAL - Losing good points recklessly

That Senator Miriam Santiago fell just short of becoming president in 1992 (she was only 874,348 votes, or less than a million, behind Fidel Ramos), attests to the immense confidence she inspires in the Filipino people.

That confidence appears to linger even today. Large segments of the population wondered why the feisty Ilongga lawmaker did not show up at the first two days of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona then heaved a huge sigh of relief when she finally did.

True, Santiago adds color and spice to the otherwise tedious process of trying the chief justice. But the real measure of her popular appeal in court is her enviable grasp of the law and the crispness with which she displays her expertise.

But she needs to get a good grip on herself and her vaunted temper, though, not only for herself (her blood pressure shot up in the course of last Friday’s hearing) but more importantly for the people who watch the proceedings on TV both here and abroad.

To say the least, audiences were stunned (and God knows what went through their minds) at the way she alternately subjected to a severe tongue-lashing prosecution panel members Niel Tupas Jr. and Arthur Lim.

Even granting that Tupas and Lim courted their own misfortunes, still they are no longer schoolboys to deserve the treatment they got. Even in a politically divisive process, it sickens to see human beings stripped publicly of their dignities in an obnoxious manner.

One term that finds constant and expansive use in similar processes is “Your Honor.” The term is intended to show respect, deference and obedience. Hopefully, it does not eventually ring hollow in light of some honorable’s excesses.

Santiago, on at least two occasions during this trial, expressed her personal views on being addressed “lady senator” by the presiding officer, Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile. It would do well for her to truly act like one.

Her role in this impeachment trial is very valuable, over and above those of the other senator-judges, with the sole exception of Enrile’s. She should not parlay that value for some senseless tendency to go berserk.