MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago on Tuesday walked out of a Senate plenary session after criticizing Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and fellow senators who engaged in gutter talk during Monday’s floor debates on the ethics case of Senator Manny Villar.

In an impassioned speech, Santiago reminded her fellow senators that the rules of the Senate frown on the use of improper language during debates in the plenary, especially against each other.

“Our language and behavior did not serve the nation…Our parliamentary immunity entitles us to freedom from liability in anything we say or do against anybody except our fellow senator or against any public institution such as the institution of the presidency, Congress or Supreme Court,” she said.

Santiago reserved her harshest criticism for Enrile whom she took to task for implying that she had not brushed up on jurisprudence that showed that a senator could be censured by a vote of the majority.

She cited the Philippine Daily Inquirer account of the heated Senate session which said that “Enrile shrugged off Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s opinion that the penalty of censure would require the vote of two-thirds of the Senate membership.”

Full Story: ABS-CBN/Yahoo PH