The Quezon City government has welcomed the Senate’s approval of a measure renaming Agham and BIR Roads after the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. 

“Buong puso po nating sinusuportahan  ang hakbang na ito ng Senado na ipangalan kay dating Senador Miriam Defensor-Santiago ang dalawang kalsada ng ating lungsod,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said. 

“Napakalaki pong karangalan para sa ating siyudad na dalhin ang pangalan ng ating senadora na walang takot na lumaban kontra katiwalian at tumayo para sa kapakanan at karapatan ng taumbayan,” she added.

With 22 affirmative votes and zero negative votes or abstention, the Senate approved on third and final reading House Bill 7413 seeking to rename the roadways of Agham Road and BIR Road to “Senator Miriam P. Defensor-Santiago Avenue.” 

Santiago, who passed away in September 2016 after a long battle with lung cancer, held various positions in three branches of government.

She served as presiding judge of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court and worked as Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). She also served as Senator for three terms.

“Siya rin ang una nating Asian judge na nahalal sa International Criminal Court, unang Pilipino na napili bilang commissioner para sa International Development Organization at nagsilbi rin bilang Legal Officer ng UN High Commission for Refugees sa Geneva, Switzerland. Patunay ang lahat ng kanyang pwestong hinawakan kung gaano siya kagaling. Nararapat lamang na mabigyang-halaga ang kanyang pagiging mahusay na lingkod-bayan,” said Belmonte.

For her “…bold and moral leadership in cleaning up a graft-ridden government agency”, Defensor-Santiago received the Magsaysay Award for Government Service, known as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize, in 1988.

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