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Senate okays Quezon Service Cross for Miriam Santiago

By Azer Parrocha

December 12, 2017, 3:25 pm

MANILA -- The Senate on Monday approved a resolution to confer the Quezon Service Cross on the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.

The Quezon Service Cross is the highest award the nation can bestow on a person for outstanding civilian service to the nation in memory of the late President Manuel Quezon.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives need to concur with the proclamation for conferment of the award. At present, the counterpart resolution is still pending in the House.

Some three months ago, President Rodrigo Duterte adopted Senator Grace Poe's recommendation to award the highest civilian medal to Santiago, posthumously.

Poe, the sponsor of the resolution, said that once approved in both chambers, Santiago would be the sixth Filipino and the first woman to receive the recognition.

In her sponsorship speech, Poe said it was Santiago’s love for country that “drove her to greatness and to serve with fervor and utmost dedication her fellow Filipinos until death.”

“Bestowing this award upon the former senator enables her to live on as our country's north star, inspiring future generations to love the nation and serve it in the best way they can," Poe said.

"In typical Miriam fashion, she managed to exceed her fellow awardees as the first female recipient of the Quezon Service Cross. That's Senator Miriam for you, always striving to be the first or the best," she added.

Other recipients of the award were Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. (August 2004), President Ramon Magsaysay (July 1957), President Emilio Aguinaldo (June 1956), President Carlos P. Romulo (April 1951), and Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo (November 2012). (PNA)

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