Second lives, second chances

Non-fans, detractors, and political enemies of tart-tongued Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago obviously reacted with feigned concern after she announced she was afflicted with stage 4-lung cancer ailment two months ago.

Last Wednesday, Santiago issued a press statement to break the good news that her treatment was apparently succeeding. Santiago declared she may be winning the battle over cancer. “The latest lab test shows that the cancer cells are waving a white flag,” she stated. 

Santiago regaled us with the announcement that she is now considering career options as she looks forward to ending her second and last term in office as senator in 2016. In fact, she added, she may even run in the coming May, 2016 presidential race.

Oncologists led by world-famous lung cancer specialist Dr. Ronald Natale and Dr. Gary Lorenzo, coordinating with cardiologist and herself a cancer survivor, Dr. Esperanza Cabral, issued the latest diagnosis on the senator’s lung cancer.

According to the PET/CT scan report issued by the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City last August 12, the tumor in Santiago’s “left lung has regressed,” or it has become smaller. In her press statement, Santiago disclosed she was placed on medication called Tarceva (Erlotinib) for six weeks, at only one tablet a day.

We pray for the same miracle to happen to our fellow Star associate editor, Antonio Paño who is currently confined at the Manila Doctors Hospital after going through colorectal surgery also on stage four cancer.

But more than the latest medical bulletin of the cancer-stricken senator, what obviously prompted Santiago to break her self-imposed retreat from the public was the unsolicited mention of her by Fr. Joaquin Bernas. Recognized as an authority in constitutional law, Fr. Bernas was discussing the issues regarding renewed efforts to amend the country’s 1987 Constitution during a TV talk show program aired on ANC last Tuesday night.

  In that TV talk show, Fr. Bernas was asked about his concerns over the lifting of term limits of elected  officials, among other political amendments being pushed by allies of the incumbent administration of President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III. Fr. Bernas is one of the members of the 50-man Constitutional Commission that P-Noy’s late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, created to draft the Constitution.

While he expressed an open mind to possible economic amendments, Fr. Bernas, however, did not hide his being suspicious over motives of those pushing for Charter change (Cha-cha) to extend the term of office of P-Noy beyond 2016. This was especially after P-Noy made a sudden turnaround from his previous adamant refusal from supporting Cha-cha.

“Pahinga ka na,” Fr. Bernas riposted and laughed at his own unsolicited advice to P-Noy, adding: “There are other good people. Give Miriam (Santiago) naman a chance.”

 Either Santiago was able to watch and heard Fr. Bernas on the TV talk show, or her staff or somebody else told her about it.           

Santiago was obviously buoyed by the unsolicited endorsement by Fr.Bernas as a best presidential candidate to succeed P-Noy into office. She agrees this could be a healthy option for her.

Prior to cancer, she previously complained of chronic fatigue and has been on medical leave since the 16th Congress opened in July last year. But every now and then, Santiago delivered several speeches at the Senate and in various events over the past few months. Santiago was forced to give up her post at the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC). She was elected in 2011 to ICC, a world body of judges that prosecutes individuals for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Santiago was supposed to go on a six-week hiatus from public view while undergoing treatment for lung cancer. Without her usual dramatic flair, Sen. Santiago casually bared her being sick with cancer in a press conference last July 2. Furnishing media a report from Makati Medical Center, Santiago was diagnosed with tumor cells in her left lung. It was confirmed by the biopsy procedure she went through last June 21.

DocGian, my intern son, tells me a patient who is in stage 4 cancer means the tumor cells have spread, or in the senator’s case, from the affected lung to nearby internal organs. But this does not mean a cancer-stricken patient is already a goner.

During her last press conference, the feisty senator exuded confidence she can beat her cancer. She was told by doctors the cancer wasn’t metastatic, making her hopeful it could be cured after six weeks of medication.

She tried to be cheerful before the media and even managed to joke about her cancer when she made the announcement. “I don’t know what the reactions of my enemies are. Maybe they’ll be happy because I might die and then they could get rid of me. On the other hand, I might survive and I’ll get rid of them,” the ever-witty Santiago wisecracked.

And she survived, and how!   

But more than anything else, what makes her prevail over this otherwise sad episode is her being a fighter. Blessed with a second life, Santiago vows to make the most of it like what she did while undergoing treatment by working on the 2014 editions of some ten law books scheduled for release by the end of the year.

Like  Santiago, P-Noy quietly celebrated yesterday his own second life. Twenty-seven years ago, young Noy survived the ambush by rebel mutineers who stormed the presidential residence in Arlegui. Aside from scars from the bullet wounds he sustained, shrapnel are still embedded in P-Noy’s shoulder.

In his last two years in office, P-Noy has come under fire over his administration’s failure to live up to its “tuwid na daan” commitments. Amid questions over his open-ended public statements to extend his stay in office, the 54-year old bachelor President further ignited talks when he agreed to support Cha-cha initiatives in Congress.

Yesterday, P-Noy insisted he listens to the Filipino people whom he call his “bosses” on all state matters, including the controversial proposal to extend his term. But is the real will of the Filipino people being heard by P-Noy? 

Yes, there are second lives, second chances. And perhaps, P-Noy and Sen. Santiago may see each other in May, 2016 if fate would have it.