How Miriam Santiago Proved Shes Tougher Than

Martial Law
By FilipiKnow |

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Brilliant, feisty, and with a tongue that could set forests on fire, Miriam Defensor
Santiago is undoubtedly one of the most colorful characters to have ever graced the
countrys political landscape.
Just how much badass-ness she has can be seen in the way she handled herself as a
trial judge during the Marcos administrationand despite being an admirer of the later
strongman (she once worked as Marcos speechwriter and was amazed with his
intellect), Santiago made it perfectly clear she answered to no one except to Lady
Justice during her time as a trial judge.
In a time when even the Supreme Court was hesitant to decide on any issue which
would ruffle Marcos feathers and would often invoke the political question doctrine to
beg off from making such decisions, Santiago had no qualms about making a ruling
unfavorable to the regime.

In what arguably marked the first judicial ruling against an order by the Marcos
administration, Santiagothen a regional trial judge in Quezon Cityin 1985 allowed
several protesters which included Lino Brocka, Benjamin Cervantes and students from

the University of the Philippines (UP) and Ateneo de Manila University being held under
a Preventive Detention Action Order to post bail.
Originally, the order allowed state authorities to hold detainees indefinitely without the
benefit of bail but Santiagodetermined to maintain her independenceconducted
marathon hearings on their case. During that time, she had to endure several death
threats and intimidation by the authorities as she scrupulously studied whether in a
martial law situation, can a mere regional trial jury overrule the president of the
republic?
Also Read: 15 Surprising Things You Didnt Know About Miriam DefensorSantiago
As fate would have it, Santiago allowed Brocka, Cervantes and the students to post bail
on the ground martial law cannot cancel the constitutional rights of citizens, a decision
later upheld by the Supreme Court in 1990. Following her ruling, Santiago became a
celebrity overnightan incident she relished because it represented an opportunity for
me to demonstrate that the judicial system was working, that it was intellectually honest.

Photo courtesy of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiagos Facebook Page.

Aside from stubbornly maintaining her independence, Santiago also became known as
one of the most efficient judges the country had ever seen. Assuming her post, she
implemented a no postponement policy and rapidly disposed cases at an average of
50 a month.
READ: 51 Of The Most Memorable Political Quotes From Miriam DefensorSantiago
By the time she was through, Santiago had won a myriad of awards for judicial
excellencea remarkable feat considering she was the youngest and the only trial

judge to have received her post in Metro Manila directly without first serving in the
provinces.

About the Author: When he isnt deploring the sad state of Philippine politics, Marc V.
likes to skulk around the Internet for new bits of information which he can weave into a
somewhat-average list you might still enjoy. For comments on this article, contact him
at: vaflormarcus@yahoo.com

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References
Manila Standard,. (1990). Miriam hails ruling on rallyists, p. 13. Retrieved from
https://goo.gl/NPcVBE
The Kahimyang Project,. (2013). Today in Philippine history, June 15, 1945, Miriam
Defensor Santiago was born in the city of Iloilo. Retrieved 16 October 2015, from
http://goo.gl/UohYhc