THE Senate yesterday approved on third and final reading a proposed measure renaming the Agham and BIR Roads in Quezon City as the Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago Avenue in honor of the late senator who lost her battled against cancer in 2016.
The new avenue will cover the road traversing North Avenue, cross Quezon Avenue and end at East Avenue.
Twenty-two senators voted to approve Senate Bill No. 1888 during the plenary session on Monday. All members of the Senate were made co-authors of the bill. A counterpart measure was approved by the House of Representatives last March.
The late senator’s husband, Narcisco Santiago Jr., was present at the plenary hall when the measure was passed.
Sen. Ramon Revilla, one of the authors of the bill, thanked his colleagues in the Senate for the swift approval of the measure.
In the bill’s explanatory note, the senators noted how Santiago “showcased exceptional leadership, love for her country, and a commitment to excellence through outstanding contributions as a respected legal luminary.”
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada recalled that during his neophyte years as a senator, Santiago was “my first mentor.”
“She was the one who taught me how to deal with the media, how to deal with fellow senators and she was the one who taught me how to deliver my speech and in fact, she was really, really unselfish in teaching or in mentoring the neophytes in the Senate and I am very, very grateful for that,” he said.
