Miriam Defensor Santiago

Miriam Palma Defensor-Santiago (née Defensor; June 15, 1945 – September 29, 2016) was a Filipino scholar, academic, lawyer, judge, author, and stateswoman who served in all three branches of the Philippine government: judicial, executive, and legislative.

In 1965, Defensor Santiago graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, magna cum laude from the University of the Philippines Visayas.

After graduation, she was elected to the Pi Gamma Mu and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies.

She proceeded to the University of the Philippines College of Law.

There, she was champion in numerous oratorical contests and debates.

She became the first female editor of the student newspaper, The Philippine Collegian, and was twice appointed ROTC muse.

She graduated Bachelor of Laws, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines College of Law in Diliman.

Defensor Santiago went on a fellowship to the United States, and earned the Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

She finished both degrees in a period of only one and a half years.

Following school, she took a position as special assistant to the Secretary of Justice.

She also taught political science at the Trinity University of Asia.

She was law professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman, teaching evening classes for some ten years.

Her hero as a lawyer and legislator growing up was Arturo M. Tolentino.

She has studied at several universities, including Oxford and Harvard law summer schools; Cambridge; and The Hague Academy of International Law.

She earned the degree Master of Religious Studies (without thesis) at the Maryhill School of Theology.

In Oxford, she was a research fellow at St. Hilda's College and also took a summer program in law at St. Edmund's Hall.

At Cambridge, she was a research fellow at the Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law.

Defensor-Santiago became a special assistant to the Secretary of Justice for ten years after her higher studies abroad.

From 1979 to 1980, Defensor Santiago served as Legal Officer of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees at Geneva, Switzerland.

She was assigned to the Conferences and Treaties Section.

She became skilled at treaty negotiation and drafting.

She resigned her position when her father in the Philippines developed prostate cancer.

Defensor Santiago was appointed judge of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Quezon City, Metro Manila by President Ferdinand Marcos.

She was the youngest judge appointed to Metro Manila, and exempted from the practice of first serving as a judge outside Metro Manila.

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. After being appointed by President Corazon Aquino as Secretary of Agrarian Reform from 1989 to 1990, she ran in the 1992 presidential election but was controversially defeated in events that involved a car crash injury and power outages during voting process.

Defensor Santiago would then serve three terms in the Philippine Senate, where she was known for supporting progressive laws, and authored or campaigned anti-corruption bills.

Defensor Santiago was named one of The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World in 1997 by The Australian.

She was known for being a long-serving Senator of the Republic of the Philippines, an elected judge of the International Criminal Court, and the sole female recipient of the Philippines' highest national honor, the Quezon Service Cross.

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.

On October 13, 2015, Defensor Santiago controversially declared her third candidacy for President of the Philippines in the 2016 election after her doctors from the United States declared her cancer "stable" and "receded", but lost the election due to public concern for her health.

In April 2016, her last appointed post was part of the International Development Law Organization Advisory Council (IDLO), an intergovernmental body that promotes the rule of law.

She died from complications from her cancer on September 29, 2016, and was buried days later at Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina.

In December 2018, the prestigious Quezon Service Cross was posthumously conferred upon Defensor Santiago, making her the first woman and, so far, only Visayan and the sixth person ever to be enthroned in the country's highest roster.

Defensor Santiago was known as the Dragon Lady, the Platinum Lady, the Incorruptible Lady, the Impregnable Lady, Feisty Senator, The Doctor of All Laws, the Omniscient Woman and most popularly, the Iron Lady of Asia.

She is colloquially known in Philippine pop culture as simply Miriam or MDS, and is positively cited for her lifelong dedication to public service in the Philippine government.

Defensor Santiago was born Miriam Palma Defensor in Iloilo City, to Benjamin Defensor, a local judge, and Dimpna Palma, a college dean.

She was the eldest of seven children.

She graduated valedictorian in grade school, high school, undergraduate school.

She graduated high school in Iloilo Provincial High School (now Iloilo National High School) and served as the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of the said high school's student publication "The Ilonggo".