MANILA, Philippines - He can sometimes give up his favorite breakfast or cut down on sleep or even coffee, but Bangon Pilipinas Party (BPP) vice presidential bet Perfecto “Jun” Yasay Jr. said he makes sure he has time to pray and read the Bible daily despite his tight campaign schedule.
“I pray in the morning and at night. You cannot do without it. You do not only ask for continued good health but also to have the spiritual strength against the political warfare,” said the 63-year-old Yasay.
A lawyer by profession, he attributes his strong faith to his father Perfecto Sr., who was a pastor, and his mother Deborah Rivas-Yasay, who was a public school teacher and a “Bible woman.”
Since the campaign started, he wakes up at 3:30 a.m. or 5:30 a.m., depending on his schedule for the day, and finishes some paper work and reading before he tackles the activities of the day.
He usually sleeps about seven hours, but the campaign has reduced that to just three to four hours. However, over the years he has mastered the art of sleeping just about anywhere.
“Sometimes the other candidates envy me because I can sleep anytime I want. I sleep whenever I have time,” he said.
The rocking motion of an airplane, bus or a ferry can lull him to sleep. “I take power naps in between trips,” Yasay added.
Contrary to the belief that taking coffee at night because keeps one awake, the former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman said this was not the case with him, and admitted drinking an average of 10 cups of coffee a day.
But since hitting the campaign trail on Feb. 9, this has been trimmed down to four cups.
“I drink it black. I drink it brewed,” he said.
For breakfast, he prefers oatmeal, which he sometimes adds to rice, eggs, tuyo (dried fish) or tinapa (smoked fish). He tries to stay away from fatty foods but on the campaign trail, they eat what their local organizers would serve.
He tries to discipline himself not to give in to temptation and just munch on fruits.
The intense activities in the last three months have also forced him to give up his regular exercise.
“This is a problem since I have been used to playing golf every other day. I do not use the golf cart and I would just walk seven kilometers. These days I have to be content with jogging in place for 30 minutes and going up a few floors in a building instead of using an elevator or escalator,” Yasay said.
After the elections, he said he would catch up on much needed rest and fly to Honolulu, Hawaii where he will stand as godfather at a wedding.
Asked how he would like to be remembered by the Filipino people, Yasay said, “I would like to be remembered as a person who did his duties well as a vice president, and I am determined to win. But win or lose, I am a person who campaigned based on high principles and followed election laws.”