Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago says that she'll run for president if she does'nt land a post at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). She was quoted during a lull in the presidential entourage in Washington DC.
"I'll just put fear in the hearts of my enemies, if I decide to run as president," says the feisy former QC judge who was elected under a platform of good governance and an anti-corruption stance.
Are you threatening us? Surely, the ICJ is not as masochistic as some of us Filipinos. If we can tolerate characters such as you because we simply don't have a choice, then, it's different with other countries.
Well, Miriam, it will not be your enemies who'll be afraid of your candidacy. It is the whole goddamned country whom you have been terrorizing since you became a legislator.
Yes, Miriam, like Gloria, you're living in your own fantasy world (Gloria's world is her version of Enchanted Kingdom). You're the Snow Queen who thinks everybody have pea brains and you're the only genius.
The very idea of Miriam running for president makes one seek refuge, even in loony bins. If Miriam do become president, inside Mandaluyong seems more live-able than outside its walls.
If Miriam becomes president, the AFP should get ready. They should quickly modernize their stuff because chances are, we'll find ourselves going to war with China. Or Russia. Or Malaysia. Or even Singapore.
And if indeed the good senator becomes president, let us free those living in asylums. That way, Miriam can definitely say, I'm the Snow Queen of Enchanted Kingdom.
Based on brilliant academic and impressive track record in Executive, Judicial and Legislative Deparments, Miriam Defensor Santiago is highly qualified to become president of the Philippines. She will surely jail the corrupt officials in government.
ReplyDeleteMiriam's appointment to the trial court in Metro Manila was exceptional, because newcomers are usually appointed in the provinces before they are considered qualified to sit in Metro Manila trial courts. She soon proved her mettle, by decreeing that she would not entertain any motions to postpone trial. Postponements are the bane of the Philippine judiciary, thus delaying justice.
As a freshman judge, Miriam disposed of the highest number of cases in Metro Manila. Her reputation for integrity, competence, and efficiency became established, and she was showered with awards for judicial excellence from civic groups, notably as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Professionals of the Philippine Jaycees, and the Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service of the Philippine Lions.
Her awards for judicial excellence, added to her awards for anticorruption work as immigration commissioner, make Miriam the most awarded Filipino public official today.
Miriam first rose to national prominence, when a case was raffled to her court, involving an arrest warrant called Preventive Detention Action issued during the martial law regime of President Marcos. A group of university students, mostly from UP and Ateneo de Manila University, accompanied by a group of the religious and of film luminaries, staged a public assembly in Quezon City. They protested not only an oil price hike, but also the alleged extravagance of the First Lady. They were all promptly thrown in jail, placing the students in danger of missing their final examinations for that semester. The students sued for release, and the case was raffled to Miriam.
At that time, judges were afraid to rule against any martial law edict. The prosecution presented so many witnesses that it would have been impossible to finish trial, before the week of the final exams for the university students. But Miriam suspended her regular calendar of trials, and proceeded to conduct marathon hearings on the case.
Her eventual decision to release the students was hailed as a courageous act that stressed judicial independence, even during a martial law situation. She became a national heroine to all university students, and earned the grudging respect even of the martial law administrators.
After the first People Power revolution, President Marcos was forced into exile and replaced by President Corazon Aquino, a former housewife whose assassinated husband had been the leading opposition leader during martial law. The new president plucked Miriam out of the judiciary, and gave her the mission of cleaning up the notoriously corrupt Commission on Immigration and Deportation.
Miriam rose to the challenge, and launched an anticorruption crusade that took the Filipinos' breath away. Described as "a breath of fresh air," she became an overnight sensation. She ordered lightning raids on criminal syndicates that had made the Philippines notorious as the fake passport capital of Asian. She filled the immigration detention center to bursting with foreign criminals engaged in the pedophile industry, smuggling of illegal aliens, including prostitutes, import and export of illicit firearms and dangerous drugs, and even operatives of the infamous Yakuza.
Almost every week, the media were full of Miriam's successful exploits against criminal syndicates. At this point, she earned the wrathful resentment of politicians who are patrons and benefactors of certain criminal syndicates.
For her extraordinary success in the capture of fugitives from justice, certain governments, such as the US, Australia, and Japan, invited Miriam to their countries to share her expertise in the enforcement of immigration law.
Miriam's Education:
Doctor of the Science of Law (Barbour Scholar and DeWitt Fellow), University of Michigan,1976. Requirements (except publication), fulfilled in six months, with "A" average.
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa Centro Escolar University, l989.
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa Xavier University, Ateneo de Cagayan de Oro, l989.
Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa University of San Agustin, l989.
Master of Laws (DeWitt Fellow), University of Michigan, 1975. With "A" average.
Master of Arts in Religious Studies (cand.), Maryhill School of Theology, Quezon City
Bachelor of Laws, cum laude University of the Philippines, l969
Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude University of the Philippines, l965. Finished in 3 l/2 instead of 4 years, with an average grade in the last semester of l.l.
Valedictorian, Iloilo National High School, l96l. Awardee, All- Around Girl.
Valedictorian, La Paz Elementary School, l957.