MANILA (UPDATED) - Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, who is battling stage 4 lung cancer, is now in stable condition and has been released from intensive care, her office said Thursday.

The fiery 70-year-old lawmaker, who came last in the May 9 presidential elections won by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, was rushed to the Makati Medical Center (MMC) on Monday "after she developed pneumonia due to complications of her lung cancer."

She was in the intensive care unit (ICU) on Tuesday evening.

Santiago claimed in October last year that she conquered cancer after taking experimental medication.

"Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago was transferred from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to a regular private room at the Makati Medical Center (MMC) after midday today. She was earlier confined after she developed pneumonia due to complications of her lung cancer. She is now in stable condition," her office said.

When Santiago was rushed to the MMC, she was met by a steady stream of visitors bearing presents. However, the hospital management did not allow visitors and the gifts.

Instead, Santiago's staff requested the public to express sympathy and compassion, and to send prayer cards to the senator's official Facebook page.

Santiago will bow out of public office on June 30 after serving two consecutive terms in the Senate. ABS-CBN published two of her best-selling comedy books "Stupid is Forever" and "Stupid is Forevermore," in 2014 and in 2015, respectively.

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The former trial court judge, who claimed she ate death threats for breakfast when she was immigration chief, narrowly lost the 1992 presidential elections to Fidel Ramos. She lost again in the 1998 elections won by Joseph Estrada. - With a report from Carolyn Bonquin, ABS-CBN News