Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
“I accept this. I do not want to do anything heroic.”
These were the last words of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago to her husband, Nicanor “Jun” Santiago, on the last day she was still conscious before she succumbed to lung cancer stage 4 early morning Thursday at the St. Luke’s-Global.
READ: Miriam Defensor-Santiago passes away at 71
Mr. Santiago told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Miriam’s remains will be transferred to the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cubao, Quezon City, Thursday afternoon, for the wake. He said the family had no plans to cremate her.
Santiago said Miriam became unconscious for several days in the hospital. She had enrolled in various clinical trials for treatment of lung cancer for two years, but to no avail.
In the last trial, Miriam had three infusions before she became unconscious.
“She died peacefully in her sleep. That is all I want to remember,” said the grieving Mr. Santiago.
READ: Poe says feisty but maternal Santiago gave her sleepless nights
Miriam, a former judge at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, started her career in public service in 1988 as Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation where she was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for effectively battling corruption in the bureau.
While there, she considered herself as the “Demi Moore” of Philippine politics.