Roco back by 28th

Ailing presidential aspirant Raul Roco will make a "grand comeback" on or before April 28, his running mate said yesterday.

Alyansa ng Pag-asa vice presidential candidate Herminio Aquino told reporters Roco is "raring" to return and has in fact already booked a return flight to Manila.

"I talked to him yesterday morning (April 19) at about 10 a.m. and he is coming back on the 28th of this month," he said. "If we are lucky, it might even be earlier so we are trying to come up with preparations already for his arrival."

The standard-bearer of Alyansa ng Pag-asa is in Houston, Texas to seek confirmatory tests and treatment of the prostate cancer that Filipino doctors diagnosed him to be suffering.

Without elaborating, Aquino said Roco is "responding well to rest and treatment" and that he is feeling good about it. "He was very upbeat, he was very cheerful and raring to go," he said. "And I think, from the sound of his voice, he can’t wait until he gets back on the 28th. He said he has never felt this well since the time that he arrived there."

In a television interview, Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan, Roco’s campaign manager and health adviser, said Alyansa could not yet issue a medical bulletin because the last of the confirmatory tests would be completed only on Thursday.

Galvez-Tan said Alyansa believes that Roco’s deteriorating health and sudden departure for Texas would not impede his candidacy, and that he may even rake in sympathy votes. — Sheila Crisostomo