SAYING she intends to fully recover from her illness, the cancer-stricken Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago said she is rethinking the political life because it is “very soul-devastating.”
Santiago did not elaborate in a statement she dictated to her secretary but she said she was buoyed by the prayers and greetings she received on her social media accounts after she was reported to have been admitted to the intensive care unit of the Makati Medical on May 31.
Santiago’s husband, former Commissioner Jun Santiago, said the senator developed pneumonia, a complication of the lung cancer that she has been battling for the past two years.
But the senator is now in stable condition and is on her way to recovery, her husband said.
The senator was discharged from the ICU and returned to her own private room on Thursday.
She first announced in July that she was suffering from lung cancer. But still, she managed to crack joke about her cancer and said her enemies might be happy because she might die and then they could get rid of her.
“On the other hand, I might survive and I’ll get rid of them,” said Santiago, adding that she’s very over her cancer since she’s entering another dimension of human life.
Santiago also said she was taking a “miracle drug,” which has the effects of chemotheraphy, in the hope of arresting the cancer.
Despite feeling the symptoms, Santiago filed her Certificate of Candidacy for president in October last year and joined the race for the country’s highest elective post. She occasionally appeared in various speaking engagements, mostly with the youth as her audience.
There were also times when she joined her running mate, Senator Bongbong Marcos, in campaign sorties and attended presidential debates.
The senator, known for her brilliance and her fight against corruption, was the first
Filipino and the first Asian from a developing country, to be elected in the United Nations as judge of the International Criminal Court.
Paradoxically, the ailing Miriam is No. 1 in the list of the country’s most influential women as published in the internet by
Santiago served as senator for three terms or a total of 18 years. Her third term as senator ends on June 30 although she failed to regularly report for work since she announced having been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer sometime in June last year.