Duterte to confer Quezon Service award on Miriam Defensor-Santiago

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte will confer on Monday the Quezon Service Cross award on the late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago in recognition of her exemplary contribution to the nation as a public servant, Malacañang announced yesterday.

Last year, Sens, Grace Poe and Sonny Angara filed separate resolutions urging Duterte to honor Santiago.

In her resolution, Poe noted how Santiago dedicated her life to public service through her work in all the branches of government: judicial, executive and legislative.

Poe said Santiago embodied values that she herself demanded of leaders: academic, professional and moral character throughout her 46-year career in government.

As presiding judge of the Quezon City regional trial court, Santiago implemented a no-postponement policy, which allowed her to dispose of a record number of cases and unclog the court of old cases, the resolution said.

The Senate resolution also noted how Santiago instituted reforms when she was commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration, earning her the 1988 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for her “bold and moral leadership in cleaning up a graft-ridden government agency.”

“Santiago stopped the so-called conversion scandal when she was the secretary of agrarian reform, wherein landowners lobbied to have their agricultural lands reclassified as commercial, industrial or residential lands to subvert the law,” Poe said.

During her stint in the legislature, Santiago filed the most number of bills and resolutions. She authored some of the most important laws, including the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act, Data Privacy Act, Cybercrime Prevention Act, Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act and the Anti-Bullying Act.

Other awards received by Santiago are the Outstanding Young Men Award for Law (1985), The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service Award for Law (1986), Philippine Judges Association Hall of Fame (2015); YMCA Philippines Gold Vision Triangle Award for Government Service (1988), Civic Assembly of Women of the Philippines Republic Anniversary Award for Law Enforcement (1988), Girl Scouts of the Philippines Golden Jubilee Achievement Award for Public Service (1990), University of the Philippines Most Outstanding Alumna in Law (1988) and the University of the Philippines Alumni Association-Iloilo chapter) (2015).

“Santiago is a highly esteemed expert in constitutional and international laws and has, through such recognition, earned for the Philippines honor and respect from the international community,” Poe said.

Santiago also authored numerous law books, some of which have been cited by the Supreme Court in its decisions.

She was elected as judge of the International Criminal Court, becoming the first Filipino and the first Asian from a developing country to hold such a seat, and became a member of the International Advisory Council of the International Development Law Organization in 2016.

“Santiago’s crusade against the culture of corruption, steadfastness on the rule of law and determination to hold public officials to a higher standard, reverberate across generations. Bestowing upon Santiago the Quezon Service Cross will ensure that her legacy of dedicated, outstanding and selfless public service will endure for Filipinos to emulate,” Poe said.

The Quezon Service Cross was created by virtue of a resolution issued by then president Manuel Roxas in memory of the late president Manuel Quezon.