PROFILE

Youth

Dr. Miriam Defensor Santiago is a charismatic Philippine icon, idolized by all young people throughout the country for her intellectual brilliance, fiery eloquence, and moral courage. Millions of Filipinos believe that she won as president but was cheated in 1992, when she ran as a wildly popular independent candidate. She has triumphed against attempts on her life, political persecution, electoral fraud, and black propaganda, to become a role model for her millions of fans.

Dr. Santiago brought honor to the Philippines, when she was named recipient of the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize, known as the Magsaysay Award, for government service. She was cited “for bold and moral leadership in cleaning up a graft-ridden government agency,” referring to her courageous work as immigration commissioner. Her spectacular crusade against corruption and criminality catapulted her to the status of cult figure among the Filipino youth.

Dr. Santiago was named one of “The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World” in 1996, by The Australian magazine on its website. She is listed in the United Nations roster of eminent and highly qualified experts in international law.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Dr. Santiago has a record of academic excellence. She earned the following degrees: Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, and Bachelor of Laws, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines (U.P.); Master of Laws, and Doctor of the Science of Law, from the University of Michigan, where she was a Barbour Scholar and Dewitt Fellow. She is a candidate for the degree, Master of Arts in Religious Studies, at the Maryhill School of Theology.

She has done postdoctoral studies in over a dozen countries in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States. She has studied at, among others, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Harvard University, University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, and the Academy of Public International Law at The Hague, Netherlands. She holds honorary doctorates from Philippine universities.

Dr. Santiago was class valedictorian and campus editor at all levels – elementary, high school, and college. She won as champion of a high school spelling contest, when she was only a freshman student. Despite a three-month bout with illness, she finished her bachelor’s degree at U.P. after only three and a half instead of four years, with a near-perfect average grade in the last semester of 1.1. She finished her law doctorate after only six months, with an average grade of “A.” She finished the academic requirements for her master’s degree in theology, with an average grade of 1.25.

She made history in U.P. when she became the first female editor-in-chief of the venerable student newspaper The Philippine Collegian, thus shattering a 50-year-old record of male dominance. She was also the first female to win the Best Debater Award in law school. She held a campus beauty title twice, as U.P ROTC corps sponsor. She was twice recipient of the Vinzons Achievement Award for excellence in leadership, and the Rotary Award for most outstanding graduate. She won first place in oratorical and literary contests.

PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE

Dr. Santiago’s record of academic excellence is matched by her record of professional excellence. Media have called her the most awarded Filipino public official today.

At a relatively young age, she has held ranking positions in all three branches of government – executive, legislative, and judicial. She has been presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court at Quezon City; immigration commissioner; and a cabinet member, as agrarian reform secretary. She has also been legal officer of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland; and a consultant of the Philippine embassy in Washington D.C. She was elected senator in 1995, and in 2004.

She was a U.P. law professor, and many of her former students are now high-ranking public officials. She is considered the leading expert of her generation in constitutional law and in international law. She has authored some 30 books, including the best-selling college textbook, Politics and Governance; and the textbook International Relations. Her 4-volume series on Philosophy was recently released. She has also been a popular newspaper columnist.

In addition to the Magsaysay Award, Dr. Santiago has been honored with over a hundred prestigious awards for excellence in public service. Her awards include: TOYM (The Outstanding Young Men) of the Jaycees; TOWNS (The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service) of the Lions; Gold Vision Triangle Award of the YMCA; Golden Jubilee Achievement Award of the Girl Scouts; and Republic Anniversary Award of the Civic Assembly of Women of the Philippines.

U.P. gave her the Outstanding Law Alumna Award, and the Portia Diamond Award. She also received the Public Service Award from the Metro Manila bishops, as well as the Woman of the Year Award from the Catholic Education Association of the Philippines. She was recipient of the Public Servant of the Year Award from the Council of Evangelical Churches of the Philippines.

MIRIAM MAGIC

For her moral courage in fighting the culture of corruption and in defending the rule of law, she has been acclaimed not only by the local, but also by the foreign press worldwide. When she was a college student, one magazine already dubbed her “super girl at the state university.” Her face has graced dozens of magazine covers, including Newsweek. She has been called the incorruptible lady, the platinum lady, the tiger lady, the dragon lady, the iron lady of Asia, the queen of popularity polls, and the undisputed campus heroine. But to her millions of fans, she is best known for the unique brand of charismatic leadership that media likes to call “Miriam magic.”

Behind the public persona lies a combination of hard work and calculated aggression. Hers might be a lonely voice insisting on the politics of conviction. But her millions of fans continue to expect that someday soon, people like her will at last triumph over the politics of money, and the politics of opportunism. Whatever the result might be in the future, in our country today, there is only one person associated in the public mind with a combination of the rare virtues of academic excellence, moral passion, and burning integrity – Dr. Miriam Defensor Santiago.