Siete Marias (Miriam Defensor)

Here’s a list of seven of the women who made headlines, the women who made the political landscape quiver, and (generally) the women who stood out (for me) last week.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago

Again, Miriam stole the spotlight. She took to the lectern her signature fiery rhetoric and called some Supreme Court Justices ‘earthworms.' Man, Miriam is definitely stronger than Typhoon Reming!

As I vegetated on my couch half-drunk, I knew I had to put down the remote control and observe her being Miriam-ness. Miriam yelled. Miriam screamed. Miriam went berserk. I had the urge to stand up and applaud.

The issue: she had been removed from the official list of candidates for the next Chief Justice post. She suspected conspiracy and sabotage among them ‘earthworms’ to boot her out of the list. She said she wasn’t angry, but “irate, furious, ballistic, fuming, foaming at the mouth, hitting the roof, homicidal” and basically she enumerated every word synonymous with ‘angry.’ That’s my girl!

"I am humiliated! Debased! Degraded! And not only that, I feel like throwing up to be living my middle years in a country of this nature!"

With her powerful voice, feisty façade, florid verbiage, and Harvard-meets-Iloilo accent, she pointed a finger at an imaginary someone and screamed “I am nauseated! I spit in the face of Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and his cohorts in the Supreme Court!” (multiple exclamation points here)

What is there not to love about a woman who looks straight into the camera and utters “gusto kong mangagat ng tao”? Although I find some of her views absurd and out of this world, I love her still. She’s amazing, she takes my breath away every time she opens that mouth.

I love you Miriam, I’m with you all the way. We’re destined for each other.

(Photo from: Biography of Miriam Defensor Santiago Website)

(to be concluded…)