Sen. Santiago joins fray against US envoy

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago talks to the media during a press conference about her being nominated as judge for the International Criminal Court at the Diamond Hotel, Tuesday. The luncheon event was hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto del Rosario to honor the senator. Jamie Marie Elona/INQUIRER.net

United States Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. on Wednesday continued to draw flak for saying 40 percent of male tourists visiting the Philippines come for sex, this time with Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago making sarcastic allusions to him in front of other diplomats.

Thomas was not present in the gathering, but the tart-tongued lawmaker was apparently referring to the American official in her remarks at a luncheon promoting her bid to become a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

Santiago opened her speech by giving her own twist to the “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp” story: She purportedly encountered a “genie” that emerged from a bottle that washed ashore during last week’s Typhoon “Pedring.”

Granted only one wish, she said, she initially asked for peace in the Middle East. But the genie suggested that she make a more “reasonable” wish, so she asked instead: “Well, change the habit of certain diplomats talking about sex tourism in my country.”

The genie supposedly replied: “Well, you know diplomats, sometimes they have a tendency to speak out of touch with reality. Why don’t you just go back to the problem of peace in the Middle East. I think we can negotiate that matter.”

Santiago spoke before a group of diplomats—Thomas not among them—at the Capricorn Room of the Diamond Hotel in Manila. The senator is the country’s nominee to the ICC, a tribunal that would try persons accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, among others.

The United States has not ratified the Rome Statute that established the ICC.