Sen. Miriam delights supporters by sharing her plans on social media

“Iron Lady of Asia” Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago (Photo courtesy of @SenMiriam on Twitter)

MANILA — Asia’s “Iron Lady” is at it again.

With almost 80% of her lung cancer gone–thanks to her “wonder pill” which costs PhP 2,000 each–Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is moving on to clean the government’s system from its own cancer: corrupt officials.

After walking out of Wednesday’s Commission on Appointments hearing, Sen. Miriam took it to Twitter and Facebook to explain her decision to walk out of the session.

Through her official Facebook page, Sen. Miriam published a “statement after walkout.”

“I walked out, because of the intransigence and discourtesy shown to me by the House panel of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Commission on Appointments,” Sen. Miriam wrote.

Sen. Miriam was displeased when one of the people in the panel questioned the validity of the quorum. In her statement, she explained that she alone is the quorum.

“I have been chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the CA for some 10 years.  During all that time – nearly a decade – I conducted the hearings on the basis of the provision that my presence alone as chair is a quorum,” she said.

She ended, “As a senator suffering from lung cancer stage 4, I purposely willed myself back to work, to show that cancer can be licked.  In this spirit, since I am staring death in the face, I will no longer compromise, mollify, or appease those who do not obey the rules.  Instead, I will speak truth to power.  I will try to help run this government properly, to my last breath.”

The determined Senator also delighted her supporters by sharing her witty comments of the day’s events (and the government in general) as well as her plans for 2016.

There were her usual witty and funny posts:

She also shared some short-term goals:

She shared three main goals that she’d like to do in the near future.

“If I make a full recovery early enough from lung cancer, I am considering three options: First, to run for the presidency. Second, join the International Advisory Council of an NGO. Three, write a book in Washington, D.C., under a writing fellowship,” she posted on Facebook.

On Budget Secretary Butch Abad, she posted:

Sen. Miriam is asking for a “question hour” to dive deeper into Sec. Abad’s involvement with the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

To defend her request for a Senate “question hour” with Sec. Abad, Sen. Miriam wrote, “Sec. Abad has no reason to shy away from the Senate question hour because the doctrine of executive privilege is recognized only in relation to certain types of information of a sensitive character.”

As always, Sen. Miriam did not waste any time letting everybody know what she thinks of her fellow lawmakers who were involved in anomalous pork barrel dealings and other misuse of public funds.

She also decided to somewhat tease her supporters.

Having announced her plans of running for presidency on 2016, Sen. Miriam shared on Facebook and Twitter who she wants as her running mate.

Until she finally dropped names.

Sen. Miriam is referring to neophyte senator Grace Poe. She also named to male politicians.

She wasn’t shy in expressing her fondness of Davao Mayor Rudy Duterte. Perhaps she feels two iron fists are better than one iron lady?

READ: Washington SyCip wants Grace Poe to run for president in 2016

Despite her plans — plans that have sparked a fire in hopeful voters — Sen. Miriam said that her doctors have the final say if she can run on 2016.

But perhaps we can always count on Sen. Miriam to deal with everything head on.