No one can replace Miriam Defensor-Santiago
The untimely and unexpected passing of Senator Miriam Palma Defensor-Santiago leaves a void, an empty space in the pages of Philippine history and the Filipino psyche that no one, and really no one, can ever hope to fill. No other politician today can equal, much less surpass, her academic excellence, her inexhaustible hunger for learning, her moral courage, daring and her boldness. She has accomplished many things that other women and even men feared to tread. She shouts at stupid people and berates the scoundrels, rascals and scalawags. She has zero tolerance for the brainless and considers stupidity as a capital felony. The Ilongga who never lost her Hiligaynon twang was never ashamed of her diction.
Called by many names and monickers, like The Iron Lady, considered by many as fiercer than Britain's Margaret Thatcher, and even more articulate than Germany's Angela Merkel. She has mastered International Law and the only Filipino ever appointed to the International Criminal Court. The Lady Miriam hates people who can not engage her in banter and debate. She threatens to shoot people with no intelligence, and, in hyperbole, once announced that she planned to author a law that shall consider lack of common sense a serious offense punishable by death by musketry. She is colorful in speech, with so many pickup quips and ''hugot'' lines. The one and only Miriam was a debater, writer, columnist, diplomat, parliamentarian, jurist, scholar, pistol shooter, boxer, humorist, commentator, literary critic and lover of life and humanity. She was a voracious reader who could finish reading a whole novel whenever traffic delays her movement from home to office. She used to be a regional trial court judge, an Immigration Commissioner, a Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform and senator for a number of terms, and twice a presidential candidate. Perhaps, she was the best Philippine president that we failed to have. Her passing is and will always be a great loss to all of us.
She had a number of doctorate degrees, some by '' honoris causa'' but most were earned by her from Oxford, Yale, Stanford University of Michigan and other Ivy League academic institutions. Senator Miriam could speak extemporaneously on any subject. She could articulate on any global, regional or domestic issues. In the Senate, no one would dare interpellete her when she delivered any privilege speech or stood up on matters of personal privilege. She was the only one who could dress down any other or shout at Vitaliano Aguirre for covering his ears, while the late senator was cross-examining a witness during the Corona impeachment proceedings.
Senator Miriam was a Magsaysay awardee for government service, a ToWNS awardee and Jaycee awardee. She was also listed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world. She authored a number of bills in the Senate on all matters, ranging from foreign affairs to economics, politics, culture, arts, economics, trade, foreign relations, law, justice, family relations, immigration, agrarian reform, health social services, labor, security religion and sports.
It is a pity that she did not become a president of our country. I am relieved that she is finally at rest from the pain of lung cancer. But I am deeply sad for our country for we will never have another Miriam again. She was one of a kind. Our nation can never see another senator like her. The Lady Miriam is now in heaven.