Former Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, 71, succumbed to cancer on Thursday morning, her husband Atty. Jun Santiago said.
"She died peacefully in her sleep this morning," Santiago said.
The former lawmaker passed away while confined at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City.
She was known as the Dragon Lady, the Platinum Lady, the Incorruptible Lady, the Tiger Lady, and most popularly, the Iron Lady of Asia. She died at 71 from lung cancer.
Santiago served in all three branches of the Philippine government – judicial, executive, and legislative. Some of her alma maters include University of the Philippines,University of Michigan, Oxford University, Maryhill School of Theology, University of California, Harvard University, and Cambridge University. Santiago was named one of The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World in 1997 by The Australian magazine.
In 1988, she was named laureate of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service, with a citation "for bold and moral leadership in cleaning up a graft-ridden government agency."[2][3][4][5] She ran in the 1992 presidential elections but was defeated in an election marred by allegations of impropriety by the victor. The quote, 'Miriam won in the elections, but lost in the counting.' became popular nationwide.
She became senator of the republic in 1995 and authored the most number of laws and bills in the entire history of the Philippines. She run again for president in the 1998 presidential elections but lost after heavy black propaganda against her which were eventually proven false. She continued her work as senator - exposed and lambasted numerous government scandals, such as thePriority Development Assistance Fund scam, which led to massive outrage and triggered major reforms throughout the country. She became an icon of incorruptibility, honest government service, and constitutional law. She was given numerous awards and recognition for her fight against corruption in the country .
In 2012, she became the first Filipina and the first Asian from a developing country to be elected a judge of the International Criminal Court.[7][8] She later resigned the post, citing chronic fatigue syndrome, which turned out to be lung cancer.[9][10] In 2016, she became part of the International Advisory Council of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), an intergovernmental body that promotes the rule of law.
She served three terms in the Philippine Senate. On 13 October 2015, Santiago declared her candidacy for President of the Philippines in the 2016 elections after her doctors from the United States declared her cancer 'stable' and 'receded', but lost in the elections. She was immortalized by her supporters as 'the best president we never had'.
It was in 2014 when the former lawmaker said that she had stage 4 lung cancer.