President Duterte is set to confer the Quezon Service Cross, the highest national recognition of outstanding civilian service in the country, on the late Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Monday.
The conferment will take place in the afternoon in Malacañang, a year after Duterte nominated Miriam for the award on Nov. 20 last year.
The nomination came a year after Senators Grace Poe and Sonny Angara filed separate resolutions urging Duterte to confer the Quezon Service Cross on the late lawmaker days before her first death anniversary on Sept. 29 last year.
Malacañang had earlier said that it is willing to posthumously confer the award on the late senator, and that Duterte will surely nominate her for the recognition.
“The late senator’s contribution to the country is beyond question. The President highly respects the lady,” Malacanang said.
Poe and Angara cited in their resolutions that Miriam “dedicated her life to public service through her work in all the branches of government: Judicial, Executive, and Legislative.”
“As a senator for three terms, Santiago consistently filed the highest number of bills and resolutions,” Poe said in her resolution.
“Throughout the nearly five decades she served the public, Miriam Defensor Santiago exemplified academic, professional, and moral excellence – values that she herself demanded not just from fellow public servants, but also fellow Filipinos,” Angara said in his resolution.
Miriam, who succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 71 on Sept. 29, 2016, was known for her fearlessness and sense of humor which made her popular among the youth. (Argyll Geducos)
