Explanation of vote on Senate Resolution No. 508 (nominating Miriam Santiago for conferment of the Quezon Service Cross)
By Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto

To borrow Kennedy, Senator Miriam's mastery of the Constitution was awesome that when the best constitutional experts will be summoned to the Senate in the future, it can only be regarded as the greatest gathering of legal minds in one room, except when Senator Miriam dined alone in her office.

She was such an intellectual giant that those who will come after her will be reduced as students forever parsing what she had said as beacons that will light their way and illuminate their minds.

Senator Miriam not only set the benchmark in clarity of thought and convincing discourse, but also in courage which she showed whether in pursuit of her advocacies for the people or the latter's enemies.

She was brains, beauty and balls.

At this time when impolite conversation seems to be the rule, let us remember that she rarely cursed, never had invectives in her debating arsenal, but she was able to demolish her opponents using language that was devastating, yet most elegant.

She taught us that one need not dig into a bag of profanities to get one's message across.

On her worst day when cancer had already invaded her brain, she was still sharper than any of us, displaying an acumen that was hard to defeat.

By simply being here, we learned so much from her by osmosis.

She had wit that can lacerate egos, and wisdom that can prick the nation's conscience.

She can crack jokes that will send millennials into stitches, and make learned statements that she can hurl like thunderbolts that stun ordinary mortals like us.

Senator Miriam was one of a kind. And we are lucky that like a comet that streaks across our skies once every century, we were able to witness her dazzling brilliance during our lifetime.

We are forever grateful to her. Like a bright flame that eternally lights the path we should take as a people, our debt to her is inextinguishable.