Miriam, idol of the young

MANILA, Philippines - Eighteen-year-old Gillian Balacuit lined up to have a final glimpse of the late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Friday. Aspiring to be a lawyer, Balacuit said the “witty and smart” lawmaker was an inspiration.

Balacuit is taking up Legal Management at the University of Sto. Tomas and, like the other youth supporters of Santiago, she expressed belief that Filipinos did not see how great she was when they did not support her in the last presidential elections.

“My course is in preparation for law proper and I idolize her. She is fearless. Even though I was not yet able to vote last May because I just turned 18, I supported her 100 percent during the campaign,” Balacuit said.

A known social media darling, Santiago captivated the young people with her words and her emphatic, sometimes dramatic, delivery of them – her trademark since she entered public service. When she ran for president in 1992, students in various campuses were also drawn to her, though some of them were not yet voters.

Vincent Jerome Agustin, a youth volunteer and supporter of Santiago, said they were expecting more young people to troop to the wake at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cubao, Quezon City before Santiago’s burial today.

He called it “youth power” until the end for the lady senator and “red” would be their color to honor her and to represent their love for her being a “fearless fighter.”

Isabel Llarena, 15, a student of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, is also an avid supporter of the late senator.               

“She is brave. She says what she wants to say. She has conviction and will fight for what she thinks is right,” Llanera said. 

Thousands of Filipinos flocked to the wake and many students, still wearing their uniforms and IDs, patiently waited in line at the cathedral.

Among the former and current government officials who visited the wake, ex-president Benigno Aquino III said Santiago was never half-hearted in whatever she did, especially when she held positions in government.

“She gave it her all…she contributed to the maturing of our political systems,” Aquino, a former colleague of Santiago at the Senate, said.

Aquino said he went to the wake to personally condole with and join Santiago’s loved ones in prayer, “the least that we can do to share the loss.”

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said “we lost an icon in Congress” and “a fierce fighter of corruption.”

‘Only one’

Although there can only be one Santiago, Sens. Joel Villanueva and Juan Edgardo Angara said the Senate would continue to champion her advocacies, especially on the youth.

The two, along with Sen. Benigno Paolo Aquino IV, remembered their former colleague as an inspirational woman in terms of generosity, work ethics and brilliance.

“We have lost someone who has made a dent in history,” Bam said.

Villanueva, who was endorsed by Santiago despite being affiliated with the Liberal Party, said he was grateful to the lady senator for all that she had given to the country. Santiago ran for president with ex-senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. under her own People’s Reform Party.

Angara said they would push for her bills, including the Magna Carta for Internet Freedom.

Santiago’s runningmate in the 1992 elections, former senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., also visited Santiago’s wake yesterday along with the executive secretary to then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Eduardo Ermita.

Ermita recalled the “grilling” that Santiago gave him during a confirmation process at the Commission on Appointments.

Ermita, who was identified with the campaign of Santiago’s presidential rival Fidel Ramos in the 1992 presidential elections, said he was surprised that he was endorsed by the former senator.

Santiago was the seventh and last senator to endorse him and even joked that she thought that the other senators were giving him a eulogy in their confirmation speeches.

Sen. Francis Escudero and his wife Heart Evangelista visited Santiago, coming straight from the airport. The couple accompanied President Duterte in his trip to Vietnam last Wednesday and Thursday.

Santiago was reportedly the one who introduced the two, with Evangelista describing the late senator as her second mother and number one protector.

“It’s just a sad day. I have no words, I’m sorry,” she said as they left the chapel.

Other officials who visited the last day of the wake were Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista, Sens. Cynthia Villar and Sherwin Gatchalian and former senator Freddie Webb, among others.

Santiago will be laid to rest at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City this afternoon. There will be a ceremony to honor her before she is buried beside her son Alexander, her former chief-of-staff Rissa Ofilada said.

She passed away on Thursday morning following a bout with lung cancer and complications.

A private viewing for family and friends is scheduled this morning to be followed by a mass at 1 p.m. before she is brought to her final resting place.

The former senator, who served three terms at the Senate, will be buried clad in her favorite blue Filipiniana ensemble, according to Ofilada, Santiago’s friend of 20 years.