Miriam Defensor-Santiago Quotes

My favorite Inday quote goes like this: Amo to Inday: Inday, anong ginagamit mong sabon? Inday: “only Belo touches my skin… who touches yours?” My favorite Melanie Marquez quote, meanwhile, is: (said to another celebrity) “you’re good, you should go to the States… you will sell hotcakes.” When it comes to quotes, however, there is no beating ever-fiery Senator (once presidentiable) Miriam Defensor-Santiago. Her most recent tirade was during the Senate NBN inquiry, where she accuses the Chinese of inventing corruption “for all of human civilization”:

She has also recently called on all Pinoys to boycott the American TV show Desperate Housewives, because of the racial slur that escaped the screening of the show’s producers that attacked Filipino doctors migrating to the States. In the past, she has commented the following about Americans in the Philippines: “The problem with Americans is that they are overpaid, oversexed, and over here.”

Compared to the regular beating that local politicians get from Miriam, however, the Chinese and Americans should be considered lucky. When she ran for President in ‘94, she had this to say about her opponents: “Many, if not all, of my presidential opponents are certifiable idiots.” And when she made it her advocacy to legislate additional educational requirements for people running for public office (perhaps as a grunge, since she lost in ‘94 to “certifiable idiots”), she was quoted as saying that a lot of the members of Congress are ”not even qualified to be there,” and “kahit sino pwede tumakbo — kahit sinong gago.” Not unexpected for someone who considers uneducated Filipinos as “species of lower life forms.”

When she’s angry, she’s really angry. When she was dropped from consideration for the position of Chief Justice, she was really mad: ”I am irate. I am foaming at the mouth. I’m homicidal. I’m suicidal. I’m humiliated, debased, degraded. And not only that, I feel like throwing up to be living my middle years in a country of this nature. I am nauseated.”

Back to her comments about Congress, which she has called the ”land of the living dead,” (she has previously said that “yung matatanda natutulog na sa Senado, kasi hindi na kaya“), and a body composed of the “dregs of humanity.” No wonder she thinks that “this is going to be a corrupt country until I die” where “all we need for a new national hero is for someone to go amok and gun down these 12 people” (referring to Senators). But my all-time favorite reference to congressmen is: (courtesy still of Miriam) “para silang mga talakitok.” In the last SONA, she had this to say about the outfits of her colleagues: “I wish we had a uniform… so at least the female component of Congress will not strut around like peacocks. It gives me a headache.”

Miriam is never afraid to raise her voice, challenge the bigshots, and raise a few eyebrows. “I eat death threats for breakfast,” was her response when asked about whether she felt she was being too prominent. “Di ko pa nasampal lahat ng gusto kong sampalin” is probably her inspiration. Her hate of fellow legislators is deep and would outlive her: “And when I die, I will rise from my grave and scare the wits out of them.”

In a country that has elected a movie actor to the Presidency, and where virtually every public office position was held at one time or another by a person from show business, it is not surprising that Miriam continues to attract followers (well, she had me hooked!). Her manic way of dealing with issues and her dramatic speeches and commentaries (she once titled her speech “We Are Living in Billboard Hell”) lends color to the otherwise boring activities in Congress. Others have called her a crackpot, insane, crazy, and horrible. I call her entertainment, and I’d rather have her around than the all the other boring, pea-brained crocodiles out there.