INTRODUCTION

PEOPLE
Yano
Romeo Lee
Manny Villar
Nur Misuari
Benjie Paras
Dino Ignacio
Eraserheads
Jerry Barican
Obet Verzola
Jessica Zafra
Zider Lubiano
Myla Algarme
Gary Granada
Raymond Red
Mike Defensor
Jerome Bailen
Eric Altamirano
Amante Jimenez
Miriam Defensor
Malou Mangahas

ISSUES
ID
UAAP
STFAP
US Bases
Collegian
Frat Violence
SAMASA split
SR controversy
Sexual Harassment

Madness comes in many forms. Detractors and critics have portrayed her as an intellectual lunatic. Given pet names such as Brenda (brain damage), Rita (retarded) and Alona (a lunatic), she has responded by calling Juan Ponce Enrile "fungus faced" and Alfredo Lim a "dimwitted donkey," much to the repugnance of other politicians. In short, her audacity has often gained her the ire of colleagues.

Nevertheless, for Miriam Defensor Santiago, there is "method to this madness." Moreover, a successful one at that.

In 1961, Santiago finished her degree in Political Science in UP Visayas, graduating with a walloping 1.1 average. Afterwards, she decided to pursue law at Diliman where she held the position of Vice Chairman in the USC in 1967.The next year, she became the first-ever female editor in chief of the Philippine Collegian.

She has also been the recipient of various academic and scholastic awards. The UP administration granted her the Vinzons Achievement Award twice for her leadership skills. She also earned the honor of being the first female to win the Carlos Romulo Gold Medal for Best Debater.

A member of the Corps of Sponsors during her college years, Miriam did not have a steady boyfriend, saying it takes up so much of her time and was not worth it. "Love is only for the insecure," she explained. "Which I am not."

Such practical views regarding relationships have also often been the recipient of many jests. In one radio interview where she had aired her concept of a "relatively ideal man," a couple of men from the College of Law called in to protest her lack of "human touch." They said the characteristics she gave, such as sentient, intellectually virile and has a sense of conviction, were too impossible to meet.

Long before entering the world of politics, she was already teaching at the UP College of Law. At present, she still holds a light teaching load at the department and is currently continuing practice at her office firm, the Miriam Defensor Santiago Law Office.

In the words of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Miriam quoted "I had been taught law in the grand manner, and it now behooved me to be a great lawyer." Consequently, she entered the world of politics with a bang. From July to December 1989, Santiago was Secretary of Agrarian Reform (DAR). That same year, she became the Commissioner of Immigration and Deportation (CID).

The media immediately branded her 'graftbuster' for her controversial exposes and disclosures. She once accused National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) Chair Jose Concepcion Jr. of lobbying for the release of P1.2 B for the use of the American Information System (AIS). According to her, the suggested computerized system (AIS) would only make cheating in the election more rampant.

During the 1992 presidential elections, she cried foul when Fidel Ramos won, declaring that a "Dagdag, Bawas" scheme had taken place. In the case she filed against Ramos, she accused the latter of "deliberate wholesale and massive electoral fraud." The motions, however, were dismissed for lack of evidence.

Ironically, Santiago herself was placed in the spotlight for allegedly having committed graft and corruption. In January 13 1992, the Sandiganbayan and the Manila Regional Trial Court charged her with cases of graft and corruption, and libel. After a series of grueling court debates, she succeeded in clearing her name.

Miriam Defensor Santiago may be a lady who has achieved a lot - but too much success makes her seem to want to give more, a continuing struggle to prove that she is the best. As one writer of the Inquirer would put it "She is her own worst enemy."

Speaking in defense of the Brenda jokes hurled towards her, she said "I took it with much nonchalance as I could. I never bothered to refute any of those derogatory information they spread against me - they were just too many. It would have been a complete waste of time."

Thus, she speaks. Like a true Iron Lady.