Manila: Thousands of Filipinos mourned the death of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago at St Luke’s hospital on Thursday, hailing her unanimously as the country’s Iron Lady and “the best president” they never had.
“I am not afraid of cancer. There is nothing I am afraid of,” was her famous battle cry when she ran as president and lost to then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City, southern Philippines ahead of the May elections.
Although she said she found a magic pill to battle the stage-four cancer that was diagnosed in 2014, she was seen tired and sitting down, her wit and sharpness diminished during presidential debates.
“She died peacefully in her sleep while confined at the St Luke’s Medical Centre in Bonifacio Global City,” said her husband, Attorney June Santiago, her college sweetheart at the premier University of the Philippines in suburban Quezon City where they met as law students. She was then dubbed as a “super girl”, being a scholar with many extra-curricular activities.
In early December, Senator Santiago, 71, was brought to St Luke’s for the continuation of her therapy against cancer, said her husband.
Her fans, and a growing number of followers in social media vowed to attend her wake at the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral in Quezon City’s Cubao starting on Friday,
“One of a kind public servant, fiery fighter against the corruption she saw, warm friend and supportive mentor, loving mother and wife. Indeed she lived in life what she often orated on the campaign — Captain of her ship, Master of her soul. We are all diminished by her loss. Adios Inday Miriam,” was the loving accolade that came from former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas who ran as presidential candidate of the ruling Liberal Party last May.
“Words cannot begin to express the deep sadness that not only I and my family but the entire country feels at the devastatingly sad news of Sen Miriam’s passing. Our beacon of wisdom, intelligence and ever-present humour and good sense has flickered out. She leaves the world less wise, less bright and sadder,” said Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Santiago’s vice-presidential candidate who also lost in the May elections.
Santiago became famous among students because she used humour instead of lacerating lectures in her observation of Philippine society, the foibles of politicians, and the mediocrity of many Filipinos.
During her wake, she is expected to be evoked as the best example of a Filipino politician. GMA News, a TV outlet, said 300,000 reacted and 50,000 commented online after the announcement of her death. Other media outlets promised to start counting.
“In a nation where many public officials are charged with, or suspected, of plunder, her honesty shines like a light in the darkness,” according to her biography in the senate.
She narrowly missed the presidency which was won by former president Fidel Ramos in 1998. She also lost her presidential bid to former president Joseph Estrada in 1998.
She was a judge early in her career before she was appointed by former president Corazon Aquino as head of the Bureau of Immigration and as agriculture secretary in the late 80s.
She became famous at the time when she said, “I eat death threats every meal” and was never afraid of them. She popularised the word “humongous” to describe something unnecessarily grand.
A Bible-reading Catholic who also studied Theology, she told the Star in 2012, “I like best (the book of) Ecclesiastes, the one that says vanity of vanities, all is vanity, there is nothing new under the sun, it is like chasing after the wind. The futility of human existence. I like that best. It also says there’s a time for everything, a time to laugh, a time to weep (a time to live, and a time to die).”
