Miriam 90 percent cancer-free

MANILA, Philippines - More than 90 percent of cancer cells in Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s lung have regressed, but she is not yet ready to report to work at the Senate at the resumption of plenary sessions on Monday.

In a letter to her colleagues last Thursday, Santiago said that six weeks after she was diagnosed with cancer and after taking medication, 70 percent of her cancer cells had regressed.

After continuously taking the pill prescribed to her as an alternative to chemotherapy for over three months, Santiago said that over 90 percent of her cancer cells have regressed.

“(But) I am not yet physically fit to attend plenary sessions because of the characteristic debilitating fatigue that marks cancer,” Santiago said in her letter addressed to the Philippine Senate, through Senate President Franklin Drilon.

“However, I have managed to discharge my duties as chair of certain Senate committees. In addition, I continue to file bills and resolutions on weekly basis. I have also managed to discharge some speaking obligations, on condition that the event will not last more than two hours, which is my physical limit at this time,” she added.

Santiago was at an event on reproductive health last Wednesday at the Philippine Christian University in Manila where she delivered the keynote address.

Santiago showed signs of fatigue and before facing reporters at a briefing, she was seen hanging on to her aide while walking. She explained that her trouble walking was all part of the effects of her cancer.