Santanina “Nina” Rasul, the country’s first Muslim woman to serve in the Philippine Senate and the first Muslim senator to win reelection has passed away, the Senate announced on Friday, November 29.
Rasul’s career as a lawmaker was marked by her steadfast commitment to advancing civil service and education reforms, promoting women's and minority rights, and fostering peace in Mindanao.
Among her legislative legacy includes several landmark laws that reshaped the country’s society, including:
• R.A. 6850, Grants civil service eligibility to government employees who have worked in a career civil service position for at least seven years;
• R.A. 6949, which declared March 8 as National Women’s Day;
• R.A. 7192, which dismantled gender discrimination, opened the doors of the Philippine Military Academy to women, allocated funds for women in all government agencies, and
• R.A. 7168, which elevated the Philippine Normal College to Philippine Normal University (PNU).
“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of former Senator Santanina Tillah Rasul, a trailblazer, legislator, educator, and beloved mother and grandmother, on November 28, 2024. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. To God we belong, and to Him we shall return,” the Senate said in a statement.
According to the Senate website, Rasul was born on September 14, 1930 in Siasi, Sulu.
The former lawmaker graduated valedictorian at Laum, Tabawan Elementary School in south Ubian, Tawi-Tawi in 1941 and first honor at Sulu High School in Jolo, Sulu in 1948. She then graduated cum laude at the University of the Philippines (UP) in 1952 where she took up a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.
She acquired her Masters degree in National Security Administration at the National Defense College of the Philippines in 1976 and doctoral units in Public Administration at UP in 1978.
Rasul first entered public service when she became a public school teacher in Siasi and Jolo from 1952 to 1957 and technical assistant to the Office of the President of the Philippines in Malacañang from 1963 to 1964.
She was then elected barrio councilor at Moore Avenue, Jolo, Sulu for two terms from 1960 to 1961 and from 1962 to 1963. From 1971 to 1976, she was elected member of the Provincial Board of Sulu.
She became a Commissioner representing Muslim and other ethics minorities from 1978 to 1987 and subsequently in 1986 became a member of the Board at Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. In 1990, she was appointed Honorary Ambassador of UNESCO during the International Literacy year.
Rasul was elected senator from 1987 to 1992 and from 1992 to 1995.
She married Abraham Rasul, former Philippine ambassador to Saudi Arabia, with whom she has six children. The retired ambassador died at the age of 80 in September 2002.
After her tenure as a senator, Rasul continued her mission to combat illiteracy through the Magbassa Kita Foundation (Let Us Read), a program she spearheaded to uplift communities through literacy.