Sin discharged from hospital

Retired Manila archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin was discharged from hospital yesterday after a week-long confinement due to high fever.

Sin, who has a kidney ailment, was taken to Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan on Dec. 12 after his private nurse noticed that he had fever.

"Fr. Jun Sescon (Sin’s personal secretary) told me that the cardinal went home at around 11 a.m.," Peachy Yamsuan, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Manila, told The STAR in a telephone interview.

"I’m not aware of the details but I presume everything’s fine because his doctors said it was OK for him to be discharged," Yamsuan said.

Sin was taken to the hospital so doctors could monitor his condition.

In October, Sin spent more than two weeks in the hospital after suffering arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat and low blood pressure while undergoing dialysis for his kidney ailment.

Sin has rarely been seen in public since his retirement but remains an important figure in the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines, which counts about 80 percent of the country’s 80 million people among its flock.

While the Philippine Constitution provides for the separation of Church and State, Sin wielded considerable power during his stint as Manila archbishop. Top politicians lined up at his residence to seek his endorsement during elections.

In February 1986, Sin rallied his flock to the EDSA people power revolt that deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos over alleged corruption and human rights violations. The largely peaceful revolt became a harbinger of change in authoritarian regimes worldwide. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989.

The feat was repeated 15 years later in 2001, when graft-tainted Joseph Estrada was forced to give up the presidency over alleged corruption and misrule. Estrada, detained in a military hospital while being tried for plunder, has denied any wrongdoing.