Miriam running for president?

MANILA, Philippines – Towards the end of a special news briefing she had called to announce that she had stage 4 lung cancer, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago made another surprising pronouncement – she may seek the presidency in 2016.

The senator volunteered the information to the media, after fielding questions mostly on the Supreme Court ruling on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and the possible liability of public officials after the Court deemed it unconstitutional.

“That’s why when I get better next month, because I’m supposed to be in remission by next month, I’m going to announce my presidential candidacy,” she said.

During her briefing, Santiago said she expects to get better after 6 weeks of oral chemotherapy.

She laughed when reporters clarified if she was serious in taking a second crack at the highest post in the land. Santiago ran for president in 1992, but lost to Fidel V. Ramos by a narrow margin.

The senator, however, did not discount it, saying she would consider it “if they don’t clean up this mess” referring to the DAP.

“As a lawyer, I look at this DAP [SC] opinion…as a big mess. How are you going to tie up all of these loose ends?” she said.

Santiago also said that she has a strong following in social media, with over 1 million “likes” for her Facebook page.

“Unlike other candidates, I’m not going to cheat. So I already have more than a million likes; that should be enough. And I got Twitter [followers] in high numbers,” she said.

Santiago had said in a student forum in March that social media, and not money, would influence the 2016 polls.

The senator declined to elaborate about her supposed presidential bid, only saying: “It depends really. Maybe God will send me another disease. [Laughs] I don’t  really know what I will do. But I’m very very happy with the life that God gave me.” 

In a media advisory, the office of the senator stated that she would be making a major announcement on Wednesday, leading members of the media to suspect that she would be announcing her presidential bid. – Rappler.com