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By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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MANILA – Senators mourned the passing of their former colleague Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who suffered from Stage 4 lung cancer.
“Today marks one of the saddest days in the history of our country,” Sen. Franklin Drilon said as he expressed sympathy for the senator’s family.
Drilon said no senator can match the former Ilongga senator’s “uncommon brilliance” and “fiery dedication to her principles and beliefs.”
According to the senate pro-tempore, he and Defensor-Santiago were classmates at the University of the Philippines (UP) – Iloilo College and the UP College of Law.
He also served as her associate editor in the Philippine Collegian, the official student publication of UP Diliman.
“She was an intellectual giant and a legal luminary whose wit and words benefited this nation and its people so many times over,” Drilon said of his close friend.
Senators Nancy Binay and Vicente Sotto III were also saddened by Defensor-Santiago’s death.
Binay said she would “miss” her “witty lines” and “feisty attitude.”
“I was one of those who would stop and listen to the wise words she would say in the Senate sessions,” added Binay, who worked with the expert of constitutional law in the 16th Congress.
Sotto said that the senator from Iloilo City will now be debating with a “much greater body” than the Senate.
Former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. also offered prayers for his presidential running mate in the May 2016 Polls and her family.
“Our beacon of wisdom, intelligence and ever-present humor and good sense has flickered out. She leaves the world less wise, less bright and sadder,” said Marcos, who lost the race to Vice President Leni Robredo.
For his part, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri remembered Defensor-Santiago as a senator known for her “fearless leadership and unquestionable honesty and integrity.”
Sen. Leila de Lima described the former senator as a “respected institution” among legal thinkers and policymakers.
“She has personified the strength of women: to be a wife and mother, a success in her career, and a powerful social force for nation-building,” she said.
Sen. Francis Escudero and JV Ejercito also joined the nation in mourning the death of the Iron Lady of Asia.
“She may have left us, but with a great legacy that will challenge the nation to become better for the future of the coming generations, something that Senator Miriam has long been fighting for,” said Escudero.
Unlike her “fierce persona,” Ejercto attested that Defensor-Santiago was “very kind-hearted” and “very malambing.”/PN
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