A few years back, I bought the book Stupid is Forever by the late Senator of the Philippines, Miriam Defensor Santiago. It has only 132 pages and most of its contents are humorous. Whenever she delivered her speeches, being a guest speaker in an event especially a graduation in a university, she would throw jokes and pick-up lines to make the atmosphere less serious and more entertaining. Those stuff were compiled and printed to make majority of this book's pages.
To give you a better look of what is written on it, here are some of my favorite lines.
One of her pick-up lines on page 32:
"Ang pag-ibig ko sa'yo ay parang relo. Parating pakanan, never kakaliwa."
While on page 52, she joked like this:
"Holdaper: Holdap ito! Akin na ang pera mo!
Lalaki: Hindi mo ba ako nakikilala? Isa akong congressman!
Holdaper: Kung ganoon, akin na ang pera namin!"
On the other hand, MDS also gave her opinion on something in a serious note like the one below about education on page 73:
"A true teacher does not terrorize ignorant students, because a true teacher knows that it is his job to cure ignorance."
In this book, you will also find some of her delivered speeches. Moreover, you can see illustrations inside it to make the read more entertaining which were created by different artists such as Cj de Silva-Ong, Manix Abrera, Elbert Or, Rob Chan and more of the Philippines's best young illustrators.
On Miriam
This book is first printed by the ABS-CBN Publishing, Inc. in the year 2014. But in 2016, she died due to lung cancer. In spite of not smoking cigarette, she caught the notorious illness. Deceased at the age of 71, she was a great loss in the Philippine government. What I love about MDS was her unparalleled hard work and excellence in her chosen field. Although she didn't top the bar exam, she surpassed the achievements of those who became topnotchers.
Her life story was shown in one of the episodes of Maalaala Mo Kaya (MMK), which has become my most favorite account of a person ever narrated in that drama. She was portrayed by the actress Julia Clarete. Her story is an inspiration of hard work and dedication. When I think about a hardworking public official, she is the first person ever come to mind. Who comes after her? I will still think about it.
Lastly, senate hearings has never been the same since she was gone. May she rest in peace.
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