Career[edit]

United Nations Legal Officer[edit]

After a stint of ten years at the justice department, Santiago served as Legal Officer of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees at Geneva, Switzerland. She was assigned to the Conferences and
Treaties Section. She became skilled at treaty negotiation and drafting. She was forced to resign
when her father in the Philippines developed prostate cancer. At his bedside, she promised to return
to the Philippines and serve her own country.[18]

Regional Trial Court Judge, Quezon City[edit]

Dr. Santiago was appointed judge of the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City, Metro Manila by
President Ferdinand Marcos. Her appointment was exceptional, because she was the youngest
judge appointed to Metro Manila. Further, she was exempted from the practice of first serving as a
judge outside Metro Manila.[9]
As RTC judge, she immediately attracted attention by proclaiming a no postponement policy. At
that time, cases were tried in segments that were usually a month apart, resulting in trials that took
years to finish. Lawyers were prone to seek postponement of trial. As a result, trial judges scheduled
ten or fifteen cases a day, so that they could make up for cases postponed.
Santiago was different. She denied any motion to postpone trial. She scheduled only five cases a
day, and heard each case. By this systematic method, she disposed of the highest number of cases
in her first year in office. She started hearings promptly at 8:30 a.m. every day, at her courtroom on
the eleventh floor of city hall. There were only two elevators, so she was known to run up the stairs.
She became nationally famous when she issued perhaps the first decision to rule against martial
law. At that time, alleged illegal public assemblies were declared as crimes and were punishable by
death. A large group of activist students from the University of the Philippines and Ateneo, as well as
activists in the film industry, staged a rally in a central business district, and denounced the First
Lady for her excesses. To retaliate, Marcos issued a Preventive Detention Action order which
authorized the military to hold suspects indefinitely, without bail. The students faced the dire prospect
of missing their final exams and, for many of them, missing graduation.
Santiago suspended hearings on all other pending cases, and conducted whole-day trials. In the
end, she issued the shocking decision ordering the military to allow the students to post bail, thus
releasing the students from detention. After promulgating her decision at the end of the day,
Santiago drove herself to the state university, where she was teaching law. U.P. law students gave
her a standing ovation.
She was hardworking, stern, and scholarly. The Philippine Jaycees, the Philippine Lions, and the
YMCA Philippines all gave her awards for judicial excellence.[1]