Exclusive: Mirriam’s Last Words to Duterte, Robredo, Finally Revealed in Her Unpublished Memoir
The MDS Arts Foundation on Wednesday released the unpublished memoir of its founder, the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, and parts of its content raised some eyebrows.
The memoir which contains consolidated notes and parts of her daily planner from 2015 until her death in September 2016 gives a closer look at how the former iron lady of Asia lived her daily life.
Her notes contain daily conversations with fellow politicians, her staff and employees, and even her house helpers and personal aides.
“This documents gives us a clear vision of how organized the senator was”, MDS Arts Foundation Chairman Atty. Gabriel Maglungsod said.
Among the contents, her last meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo stands tall among others.
Dated September 10, 2016, Duterte visited Defensor-Santiago while in hospital, 10 days before her death. She wrote “Be a good president and follow your heart”, followed by “Thank you and get well soon” by the president.
While Duterte was the last high profile person to visit her before her death, Robredo had her time as well.
In her note dated August 27, 2016, inside the Malacañang Palace, Defensor-Santiago told the Robredo to work with the president and help him make the country proud. The note says it was the very first and last time the two met after the 2016 Presidential elections.
“Congratulation and I hope you stay with the President and help him make the country proud”, the note says.
Miriam Santiago (15 June 1945 – 29 September 2016) was a Filipino lawyer, professor, judge, author, and statesman, who served in all three branches of the Philippine government: judicial, executive, and legislative. She also worked at the United Nations while studying abroad. Some of her alma maters are University of the Philippines, University of Michigan, Oxford University, Maryhill School of Theology, University of California, Harvard University, and the University of Cambridge. Defensor Santiago was named one of The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World in 1997 by The Australian magazine. She was a long-serving Senator of the Republic of the Philippines.
In 1988, Defensor Santiago was named laureate of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service, with a citation for bold and moral leadership in cleaning up a graft-ridden government agency. She ran in the 1992 presidential elections but was controversially defeated.
In 2012, Defensor Santiago became the first Filipina and the first Asian from a developing country to be elected a judge of the International Criminal Court. She later resigned the post, citing chronic fatigue syndrome, which turned out to be lung cancer. In 2016, she became part of the International Advisory Council of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), an intergovernmental body that promotes the rule of law.
Defensor Santiago served three terms in the Philippine Senate. On 13 October 2015, Defensor Santiago declared her candidacy for President of the Philippines in the 2016 elections after her doctors from the United States declared her cancer 'stable' and 'receded', but lost in the elections.
Defensor Santiago was known as the Dragon Lady, the Platinum Lady, the Incorruptible Lady, the Tiger Lady, and most popularly, the Iron Lady of Asia. She is colloquially known in Philippine pop culture as simply Miriam or MDS.
At the age of 71, Defensor Santiago died in her sleep at exactly 8:52 a.m. on 29 September 2016 while she was confined at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig from lung cancer
The memoir which contains consolidated notes and parts of her daily planner from 2015 until her death in September 2016 gives a closer look at how the former iron lady of Asia lived her daily life.
Her notes contain daily conversations with fellow politicians, her staff and employees, and even her house helpers and personal aides.
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Among the contents, her last meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo stands tall among others.
Dated September 10, 2016, Duterte visited Defensor-Santiago while in hospital, 10 days before her death. She wrote “Be a good president and follow your heart”, followed by “Thank you and get well soon” by the president.
While Duterte was the last high profile person to visit her before her death, Robredo had her time as well.
In her note dated August 27, 2016, inside the Malacañang Palace, Defensor-Santiago told the Robredo to work with the president and help him make the country proud. The note says it was the very first and last time the two met after the 2016 Presidential elections.
“Congratulation and I hope you stay with the President and help him make the country proud”, the note says.
Miriam Santiago (15 June 1945 – 29 September 2016) was a Filipino lawyer, professor, judge, author, and statesman, who served in all three branches of the Philippine government: judicial, executive, and legislative. She also worked at the United Nations while studying abroad. Some of her alma maters are University of the Philippines, University of Michigan, Oxford University, Maryhill School of Theology, University of California, Harvard University, and the University of Cambridge. Defensor Santiago was named one of The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World in 1997 by The Australian magazine. She was a long-serving Senator of the Republic of the Philippines.
In 1988, Defensor Santiago was named laureate of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service, with a citation for bold and moral leadership in cleaning up a graft-ridden government agency. She ran in the 1992 presidential elections but was controversially defeated.
In 2012, Defensor Santiago became the first Filipina and the first Asian from a developing country to be elected a judge of the International Criminal Court. She later resigned the post, citing chronic fatigue syndrome, which turned out to be lung cancer. In 2016, she became part of the International Advisory Council of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), an intergovernmental body that promotes the rule of law.
Defensor Santiago served three terms in the Philippine Senate. On 13 October 2015, Defensor Santiago declared her candidacy for President of the Philippines in the 2016 elections after her doctors from the United States declared her cancer 'stable' and 'receded', but lost in the elections.
Defensor Santiago was known as the Dragon Lady, the Platinum Lady, the Incorruptible Lady, the Tiger Lady, and most popularly, the Iron Lady of Asia. She is colloquially known in Philippine pop culture as simply Miriam or MDS.
At the age of 71, Defensor Santiago died in her sleep at exactly 8:52 a.m. on 29 September 2016 while she was confined at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig from lung cancer
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