country for 2018–2022 according to tradition. She was branded a "Distinguished Icon of Legal Excellence and Public Service" by the University of the Philippines in September 2016, and posthumously the "PUP Online Personality of the Year Award" by the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in November 2016. Death At the age of 71, Defensor Santiago died in her sleep at exactly 8:52 a.m. on September 29, 2016, while she was confined at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig from lung cancer; several reports cited that Defensor Santiago died in her residence in La Vista Subdivision, Quezon City. Santiago's last words according to her husband were, "I accept this. I do not want to do anything heroic." While her last wish was to remain only in the memory of her own family. Her body lay in state at the Cathedral Grottos of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cubao the following day. Following a Catholic funeral Mass, she was interred at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina on October 2, beside the tomb of her son Alexander, who died in 2003. Santiago's hometown, Iloilo City, declared a day of mourning for Defensor Santiago and flew the Philippine flag half-mast from September 29 – October 17, 2016. The local government said in an official statement that Defensor Santiago 'brought pride and honor to all Ilonggos'. In June 2017, members of the Youth Reform Movement lobbied for the posthumous awarding of the Quezon Service Cross to Defensor Santiago. In September 2017, Senator Grace Poe, her freedom of information (FOI) ally and 2016 presidential rival, nominated Defensor Santiago to be awarded the Quezon Service Cross, the highest honor in the entire Republic, subject for approval of both houses of Congress and by President Rodrigo Duterte, who was also her presidential rival. On the same month, Senator Sonny Angara, who considers Defensor Santiago as his mentor, followed suit by filing another resolution nominating Defensor Santiago to become a laureate of the prestigious Quezon Service Cross, just days before Defensor Santiago's first death anniversary on September 29. The Senate expressed its full intent to confer Defensor Santiago the award. The president, through the Presidential Palace, welcomed the proposal to bestow the award to Defensor Santiago once both houses of Congress have ratified the document conferring such award. The House of Representatives is the only body left that has yet to express its intent to bestow the