Miriam best president PH never had—Pimentel

Former Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

“She was the best president our nation never had.”

This was how Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III paid tribute on Thursday to a former colleague, the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

READ: Miriam Defensor-Santiago passes away at 71

“Today, the Filipino nation lost a moral giant in the fight against corruption, and an intellectual force and brilliant legal mind in Philippine politics,” he said in a statement.

“As a nation, we are poorer today by former Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s passing. In this difficult time, we mourn with her family and share our fervent prayers as we commend her soul to the Lord Almighty,” said the Senate leader.

Pimentel remembered the late senator’s “wit” and “fiery rhetoric” in a classroom when he first met her on Constitutional Law.

At the Senate, he also recalled how she lighted up its august halls “with her crackling and slashing wit that won her a legion of followers and admirers.”

READ: Senators remember Miriam as an ‘idol,’ ‘inspiration’

“While she did not always win her political battles, she always stood on the side of what was moral, what was legal, what was constitutional, and ultimately what was good for the Filipino people,” he said.

Santiago, who died due to lung cancer Thursday morning, ran but lost in three presidential elections—in 1992, 1998, and in the recently concluded May 9 polls.

Pimentel said Santiago’s example “will inspire not only many more patriotic Filipino women to go into public service, but countless more of our young who have looked up to her as our moral compass.” RAM/rga