Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo expressed her deepest condolences to the family of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago who passed away earlier today, September 29, 2016. Sec. Taguiwalo said that Sen. Defensor-Santiago has long become a positive role model for young Filipinos, especially young women, for her strength of character, sharp intellect, and staunch defense of Philippine sovereignty.

“Sen. Defensor-Santiago lived a meaningful life fighting for her ideals and defending the country’s sovereignty against unpatriotic and one-sided military agreements foisted upon us by foreign powers such as the United States. Despite the many challenges she faced as well as the health issues she had to contend with, Sen. Defensor-Santiago continued to strongly speak against unjust military agreements such as the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and their implications on Philippine sovereignty and independence,” she said.

Sen. Defensor-Santiago was also a defender of the Reproductive Health law. She sponsored the proposals to provide contraceptives and other reproductive health devices and services to the poor.

She was also a champion for those who called for quality of formal, non-formal, and special education for the people. She called for investigations into tuition hike of 300 private colleges and universities, and the report of the Commission on Audit that books produced by the Department of Education textbooks are not aligned to the K to 12 program.

Sen. Defensor-Santiago was also a critic of the DSWD’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) scheme and the unliquidated cash advances worth P5 billion. She said that the inefficiency in the records showed the government’s “failure” to bring “inclusive growth” to the poor.

“May Sen. Defensor-Santiago’s husband and children find comfort in the fact that she  lived a full and meaningful life in service of the Filipino people and our country,” said Sec. Taguiwalo. #