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Praises for Miriam too late – husband
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTO and ADRIAN STEWART CO
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ILOILO City – Filipinos, particularly Ilonggos, mourning the death of Miriam Defensor-Santiago remember the lawmaker as one of the best legal minds and feistiest graftbusters in the country.
Local and national officials and ordinary citizens consider Iloilo City-born Santiago, who succumbed to lung cancer, a “great loss” to the nation, calling her the “best president we never had” and “a source of pride and honor.”
Her cousin, Iloilo governor Arthur Defensor Sr., said she is “an irreparable loss to the country. There will only be one Miriam.”
“The Filipino people will never forget her relentless fight against graft and corruption, her wisdom as a constitutional and legal expert, her beliefs and principles,” he said. “She will never be forgotten.”
Like Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog here, Defensor ordered on Thursday all government offices in the province to fly their Philippine flags at half-mast until Oct. 7 “in honor of an illustrious daughter and to express our sympathy to her bereaved family.”
Santiago’s demise “has left a great void in the hearts of the people not only in Iloilo but in the rest of the country as well,” the governor said in Executive Order No. 192.
‘TOO LATE’
But all the praises now showered upon Santiago should have been given when she was still alive, husband Narciso “Jun” Santiago Jr. said.
He appreciates how his wife is being fondly remembered but said it is now too late.
“Iyong pagmamahal at papuri sa kanya, sana ginawa iyon noong buhay pa siya,” an emotional Narciso told the press in a brief chat on Friday in Quezon City. “Dahil ang buhay niya — kamukha ni Presidente (Rodrigo) Duterte — binuhos nila sa pagsisilbi sa bayan.”
Santiago’s remains will be interred on Sunday, Oct. 2, at the Loyola Memorial Chapel and Crematorium in Marikina City.
Prior to the interment, there will be a 1 p.m. mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Cubao, Quezon City, where her remains are currently placed for public viewing, according to the family’s spokesperson Rissa Ofilada.
Santiago’s brother, Gen. Benjamin Defensor, said she will be buried beside her son, Alexander, who died on Nov. 20, 2003.
“Pero noong buhay pa siya, hindi nabigyan e,” Narciso, a former Interior and Local Government undersecretary, said before leaving the press covering at the public viewing. “Sana noong buhay pa siya.”
ILONGGOS’ PRIDE
Santiago died on Thursday. She was 71.
Admiring his cousin’s brilliance and wit, Defensor recalled when Miriam’s father showed him an essay she wrote when she was still in sixth grade. Defensor was amazed for it was like a college student wrote it.
Only four years older than Santiago, he said he has proven her brilliance when she was his student at the University of the Philippines Visayas.
“Miriam will be a pride of Ilonggos forever,” said Defensor. “Her memories will be embedded in the deep recesses of the hearts of Ilonggos and Filipinos.”
Provincial Administrator Raul Banias, who calls Santiago and her husband “manang” and “manong,” respectively, said the death was “great personal loss” for him.
He said Santiago designated him the chairman of the People’s Reform Party in Iloilo from 1998 to 2002.
“Ginabatyag naton sang dako ang kamatayon sang aton senador,” he said. “Mabudlay i-replace ang brilliance, wit and eloquence sang senadora. Naka-contribute sia sang dako sa national discourse.”
On behalf of mayors in Iloilo, the League of Municipalities of the Philippines Iloilo chapter also expressed sadness and grief.
“She is one of the great leaders Iloilo city and province have produced,” said the league president, Jett Rojas of Ajuy town.
Santiago earned the moniker “Iron Lady of Asia” for her no-nonsense drive against graft and corruption.
She was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in June 2014 and made a public announcement about it the following month.
A year later, Santiago claimed she defeated cancer with the help of what she called “magic” pills and announced that she was running for presidency for the third time in the May 2016 elections.
She lost to President Rodrigo Duterte, placing last among five contenders.
In 1992 and 1998, she also ran for president but also lost to Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada, respectively. (With Merianne Grace Ereñeta/PN)
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