Professor Dr.

Miriam Defensor Santiago

Philippine Candidate International Criminal Court
Miriam Defensor Santiago had won laurels as a student and excelled as a legal scholar. She had become the youngest presiding judge in the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City . . . She handled a record fifty cases a month . . . She gained a reputation for strict impartiality in applying the law. Setting the example personally, she insisted that the employees be efficient, competent and honest.
Citation, Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, Asias equivalent of the Nobel Prize, Manila, 31 August 1988

The establishment of an international criminal court with jurisdiction over international crimes . . . has been repeatedly recommended. It can only be reiterated here that affirmative action on existing proposals . . . would be timely and beneficial . . . for the world community. Miriam Defensor Santiago, POLITICAL OFFENCES IN INTERNATIONAL LAW, Quezon City, Philippines: University of the Philippines Law Center, 1972 The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is arguably the most important institutional innovation since the founding of the United Nations. The Rome Statute is a benchmark in the progressive development of international human rights. Sponsorship speech of Miriam Defensor Santiago as Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 16 August 2011

rofessor Dr. Miriam Defensor Santiago has a long and distinguished career in government and a strong record of judicial and academic excellence. Before her term as senator, she served as presiding judge of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, Commissioner of Immigration, and Secretary of Agrarian Reform.

She was awarded the 1988 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service (the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize) for her work as Commissioner of Immigration. She has a Doctor of Science of Law degree from the University of Michigan, where she was a Barbour Scholar and Dewitt Fellow. She was also a Visiting Law Fellow at Oxford University and a Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Research Centre for

Int ernat ional Law at Cambridge University. She was a professor of law at the University for the Philippines for more than a decade. She is listed in the 2 0 0 0 Un i t e d N at io n s r o st e r o f eminent and highly-qualified experts in international law and is the author of a number of books on international law, international relations and trial court practice and procedure.

Professor Dr. Miriam Defensor Santiago

Government Service
Senator, Republic of the Philippines 1995-2001, 2004-2010, 2010 -2016 Chaired key committees including Foreign Relations, Constitutional Amendments, several Oversight Committees Chair, Subcommittee on the International Criminal Court Secretary of Agrarian Reform 1989 Commissioner of Immigration and Deportation 1988 1989 Presiding Judge, Regional Trial Court, Branch 106, Quezon City 1983 1987 Legal Consultant, University of the Philippines Law Center 1981 1983 Legal Consultant, Philippine Embassy, Washington D.C. 1982 Legal Officer, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva, 1979 1980 Special Assistant to the Secretary of Justice 1970 1980

Education
With her father, District Trial Doctor of Juridical Science (Barbour Scholar and DeWitt Fellow), University of Judge Benjamin A. Defensor Michigan (requirements, except publication, fulfilled in six months with when she graduated from A average) 1976 high school as valedictorian. She too went on to be a trial Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, Centro Escolar University 1989 judge. Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, Xavier University, Ateneo de Cagayan de Oro 1989 Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, University of San Agustin 1989 Master of Laws (DeWitt Fellow), University of Michigan, with A average 1975 Master of Arts in Religious Studies (cand.), Maryhill School of Theology, Quezon City 1996 Bachelor of Laws, cum laude, University of the Philippines 1969 Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, University of the Philippines (finished in 3 -1/2 instead of 4 years, with an average grade in the last semester of 1.1 )1965 Valedictorian, Iloilo Provincial National High School. Awardee, All-Around Girl Medallion 1961 Valedictorian, La Paz Elementary School 1957

Post-Graduate Education
Visiting Law Fellow, St. Hildas College, Oxford University 2000 Visiting Fellow, Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law, Cambridge University 1999 Paris-Geneva Summer Program in International Law, sponsored by American University 1998 Summer Program in Law at Oxford University, sponsored by Florida State University 1997 Summer Program of Instruction for Lawyers, Harvard University 1996 Graduate, California Judicial College, University of California at Berkeley (in the practical courtroom test, judges gave her the highest grade of 33 out of 35) 1985 Fellow, Seminar on judicial writing and caseflow management in the trial courts, Institute of Judicial Administration, Quezon City. Topnotcher of examination in judicial writing 1984 Fellow, UN/UNITAR Programme in International Law, The Hague, Holland and Brussels, Belgium, 1978 Fellow, External Session of The Hague Academy of International Law, Tokyo, Japan 1978 Fellow, Academy of American and International Law, Southwestern Legal Foundation, Dallas, Texas, 1972

Publications
Professor Dr. Defensor Santiago has published books on international law and international relations, as well as on constitutional law, criminal law, civil law and court procedure and practice. She has also published books on political science, good governance, history and philosophy. She has published articles on international organizations, humanitarian law, refugee law, immigration law, international terrorism and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court.

Senator Santiago is a gifted Lawyer who has excelled in all three branches of government - executive, legislative and judicial. She is an authority in international law and is a respected figure in the legal academe. Reynato S. Puno, Former Chief Justice Supreme Court of the Philippines

Sponsorship speech of Professor Dr. Miriam Defensor Santiago as Chair of the Subcommittee on the Statute of the International Criminal Court, 16 August 2011 (excerpt)
Mr. President, distinguished colleagues: The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is arguably the most important institutional innovation since the founding of the United Nations. The Rome Statute is a benchmark in the progressive development of international human rights. In 1998, pursuant to two General Assembly resolutions, a diplomatic conference on the establishment of an International Criminal Court convened in Rome. It was attended by some 160 states, as well as by international organizations and non-governmental organizations. The most powerful camp among the delegates were the so -called like-minded states, which opposed the 1994 draft by the International Law Commission, and which also opposed the views of the permanent members of Delivering her sponsorship speech in the Security Council. the Philippine Senate on The Philippines was a member of that like-minded caucus of states. To harmonize Philippine law with the Statute, in 2009 the Philippines passed R.A. No. 9851, entitled An act defining and penalizing crimes against international humanitarian law, genocide, and other crimes against humanity, organizing jurisdiction, and designating special courts. The Philippines has a long-standing commitment to huthe Statute of the ICC

man rights and humanitarian law. Starting from 1945 when the Philippines declared independence, our country has recognized the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. In 1948, the Philippines became a party to the Universal DeclaraRepublic of the Philippines tion of Human Rights. Congress of the Philippines In 1949, the PhilipMetro Manila pines became a party Fourteenth Congress to the 1949 Geneva Third Regular Session Convention. The PhilBegun and held in Metro ippines is a party to Manila, on Monday, the twenty-seventh day of July, the major human two thousand nine. rights instruments. In addition, the Philippines is a party to the major international humanitarian law instruments. By concurring with the Rome Statute, the Philippines will help to strengthen institutions like the ICC to end impunity, and affirm the position of the Philippines as a leading human rights advocate in Asia.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9851 AN ACT DEFINING AND PENALIZING CRIMES AGAINST INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW, GENOCIDE AND OTHER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, ORGANIZING JURISDICTION, DESIGNATING SPECIAL COURTS, AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES
Sponsored in the Philippine Senate by Professor Dr. Miriam Defensor Santiago

I humbly recommend that this Senate should concur in the ratification of the Rome Statute. (Full text available at http://miriam.com.ph/newsblog/?p=399)

Supreme Court upholds actions of Professor Dr. Miriam Defensor Santiago as Commissioner of Immigration: HARVEY, et al, petitioners, vs. DEFENSOR SANTIAGO, respondent June 28, 1988 We reject petitioners' contentions and uphold respondent's official acts. Every sovereign power has the inherent power to exclude aliens from its territory upon such grounds as it may deem proper for its self-preservation or public interest. Particularly so in this case where the State has expressly committed itself to defend the right of children to assistance and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and other conditions prejudicial to their development. Respondent Commissioner of Immigration and Deportation, in instituting deportation proceedings against petitioners, acted in the interests of the State.

Professor Dr. Miriam Defensor Santiago wins landmark case in the Supreme Court on constitutional amendments :
Bluntly stated, the right of the people to directly propose amendments to the Constitution through the system of initiative would remain entombed in the cold niche of the Constitution until Congress provides for its implementation. Stated otherwise, while the Constitution has recognized or granted that right, the people cannot exercise it if Congress, for whatever reason, does not provide for its implementation. This petition must then be granted, . . . the system of initiative to propose amendments to the Constitution should no longer be kept in the cold; it should be given flesh and blood, energy and strength. Miriam Defensor Santiago v. Commission on Elections, 19 March 1997

Supreme Court cites as authority publications of Professor Dr. Miriam Defensor Santiago:
Indeed, the burden of proof was on the respondents to dispute this presumption and show by clear and convincing evidence that the Swiss deposits were lawfully acquired and that they had other legitimate sources of income. A presumption is prima facie proof of the fact presumed and, unless the fact thus prima facie established by legal presumption is disproved, it must stand as proved. Main Opinion by Justice (now Chief Justice) Renato Corona in Republic of the Philippines v. Marcos (15 July 2003), citing Miriam Defensor Santiago, RULES OF COURT ANNOTATED, 1999 edition, p. 857 The Court must take the liberal approach that recognizes the legal standing of non-traditional plaintiffs, such as citizens and taxpayers, to raise constitutional issues that affect them. Concurring Opinion of Justice Jose C. Vitug in Cruz v. Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (6 December 2000), citing Miriam Defensor Santiago, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, 1st edition, 1994 Jurisprudentially there is either the lenient or the strict approach in the appreciation of legal standing. The liberal approach recognizes legal standing to raise constitutional issues of nontraditional plaintiffs, such as taxpayers and citizens, directly affecting them. Concurring Opinion of Justice Jose C. Vitug in Chavez v. Presidential Commission on Good Government (9 December 1998), citing Miriam Defensor Santiago, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, 1st edition, 1994

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