SANTIAGO V. COMELEC
FACTS
Miriam Defensor Santiago was criminally charged before the Sandiganbayan for allegedly approving applications for legalization of the stay of a number of aliens in the Philippines. She was charged in relation to her position as the Commissioner of the Commission on Immigration and Deportation. Pursuant to the information filed with the Sandiganbayan, Presiding Justice Garchitorena suspended Miriam from her position as Senator of the Philippines and from any gov’t position she was holding for 90 days. This is in the form of a preventive suspension pending investigation of the case before the Sandiganbayan.
ISSUE
Was the act of the Sandiganbayan valid?
RULING
YES. RA 3019 does not state that the public officer concerned must be suspended only in the office where he is alleged to have committed the acts with which he has been charged. It is also the ministerial duty of the court to issue an order of suspension upon determination of the validity of the information filed before it. The court reiterated that the preventive suspension is not a penalty since if acquitted, the accused is reinstated to his previous position plus back wages. The order of suspension under RA 3019 is different from the power of Congress to discipline its members under the Constitution. The constitutional provision is a punitive measure imposed by the Senate or HOR upon an erring member. On the other hand, R.A. 3019 does not exclude from its coverage the members of Congress and that, therefore, the Sandiganbayan did not err in thus decreeing the assailed preventive suspension order.
