Even as a child, Miriam Santiago was fierce, feisty

In kindergarten, she lost her patience, grabbed a girl's hair, and wrestled her to the floor.

That spirited little girl is the feisty Senator Miriam Santiago, who passed away on Thursday after a two-year battle with Stage 4 lung cancer.

Santiago, called the Iron Lady of Asia, had a fiery persona who did not mince words, did not hesitate to tell others, "You are a failure, you are incompetent" or "I'm not angry. I am irate. I am foaming at the mouth. I'm homicidal. I'm suicidal. I'm humiliated, debased, degraded. And not only that, I feel like throwing up to be living my middle years in a country of this nature. I am nauseated."

I share with you the story why I chose to work in government: https://t.co/dNJ9iXlJG0 #ThrowbackThursday pic.twitter.com/Bmx9M9Tdgp

— Miriam Santiago (@senmiriam) February 18, 2016

Apparently, even as a child, Santiago had a fierce countenance.

Her profile as a recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay (RM) Award for Government Service recounts how Santiago had fought with another girl at her kindergarten school.

At Lincoln School (later called Lincoln College), the private institution where her mother was the dean, Santiago had lost her temper when a girl repeatedly erased what she was writing on the blackboard.

"...Miriam lost patience, grabbed the girl's hair, and wrestled her to the floor," the RM website said.

Santiago carried this passion in all her endeavors not only during her school-age years but even later in life, even in the times near her death.

She was the eldest of seven children in a simple but respected family. Her father Benjamin Defensor was a lawyer and trial judge while her mother was an educator.

Having a working mom, Santiago learned early on to help run the household even during her elementary years.

As her mother was a career woman who shunned housework, Santiago took responsibility in going to the market, overseeing her siblings as they did their share of house chores, and making sure that their brood always attended weekly catechism classes and Catholic mass.

"Discipline was her mother's watchword, and young Miriam came to accept her authoritarian, achievement-oriented environment as 'the natural working of the universe,'" the RM website said.

It noted how Santiago led a life of super-achievement despite living in difficult circumstances. Until she was nine years old, Santiago and her family lived in a nipa hut and played and "homemade toys" made out of sardine cans and bottle caps.

Deep spiritual life

"Alongside her brilliance in school, and her diligent management of household and siblings, Miriam Defensor began to develop a deep spiritual life," the RM website noted.

She once longed to be nun but later abandoned the idea. However, in high school, she developed the lifelong habit of attending the Mass daily. 

Santiago said she had "the gift of faith" although neither of her parents were devout Catholics.

Based on the Senate website, Santiago became a member of the University of the Philippines (UP) Student Catholic Action in college. Then after finishing law in UP and even Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science at the University of Michigan, she also took up Master of Arts in Religious Studies at the Maryhill School of Theology.

[STAFF] @senmiriam joined the gov't in 1970 as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Justice for 10 years. #TBT pic.twitter.com/Z3RvUtnZ8J

— Miriam Santiago (@senmiriam) June 23, 2016

'Luxuries'

Santiago had lived modestly and considered simple things as "luxuries."

As a youngster, she played in the sand with their neighbors. "We enjoyed the luxury of filth," she was quoted on the RM website.

In her elementary years, she helped out in the school canteen to  be entitled to a free food item. "As her reward she always chose banana cake, 'because for me,' she says, 'it was the height of luxury,'" the RM website said.

Her other luxury is reading. Unable to afford books, she always went to the United States Information Service (USIS) library in Iloilo. "Her deepest childhood anxiety, she says, was that 'the world's book supply would run out and I would, in my middle age, have nothing left to read,'" the website said.

Outstanding student

In a television interview, Santiago's brother Benjamin Defensor Jr. said their family valued academic excellence.

He recalled how his sister had called their hometown of Iloilo" The Athens of the Philippines" as it was an "intellectual capital" that focused on learning and education. He also recounted how his sister was very competitive, topping exams in math and winning contests in spelling, literature, and storytelling.

Even in her elementary years, from fifth and sixth grades, Santiago was already a student editor of their school newspaper.

In high school, she became editor of their school paper "The Ilonggo."

Then at UP, she made history by becoming the first female Editor-in-Chief of the student paper "Philippine Collegian." The post was previously held by male students for 50 years.

She was the valedictorian in elementary and high school and was a magna cum laude honor student when she finished her four-year Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in UP Visayas in only 3.5 years.

She finished her Bachelor of Laws in UP Diliman, Quezon City with cum laude honors.

"In UP, the perfect grade is 1.0. In her last undergraduate semester, Dr. Santiago earned the near-perfect average grade of 1.1," her biography on the Senate website said.

Her profile on the RM website mentioned how Santiago suffered from "a stubborn case of amoebic dysentery," a debilitating illness in college.

When she recovered, there was only one month left in the school semester. As she was still weak, she had to hold her pencil with both hands. "With gritty determination she took her final examinations—and earned the highest average in the college," the website said.

Santiago continued to live her life as an "overachiever" even up to her last term as Senator. Even though she was battling Stage 4 cancer, her Facebook page noted that the senator kept herself busy, crafting 83 bills and filing 13 resolutions in the month of January 2016 alone.

She authored laws such as the Reckless Driving Prevention Act (SBN-3149), Government Performance and Results Act (SBN-3146) and the General Aviation Accident Liability Standards Act (SBN-3143).

Peaceful death

Asia's Iron Lady will be remembered for how she created "noise," how she ruffled feathers, and how she fearlessly, furiously, and frankly debated with her colleagues in the Senate and other personalities in government.

Ironically, the tough-talking woman exited this world, quietly and peacefully in her sleep.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago died peacefully today at 8:52 a.m. Details of the interment will be announced later. (1/2)

— Miriam Santiago (@senmiriam) September 29, 2016

She had told her husband, Atty. Narciso "Jun" Santiago that she accepts her fate.

She had once said that she was not afraid of death and was only afraid that there might be no sex after death.

— RSJ, GMA News