Cancer none of your business, Miriam tells critics

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago on Tuesday called on her detractors to stop making an issue of her lung cancer as the presidential elections draw near.

In a statement, the 70-year-old presidential candidate dared her rivals to instead debate on topics such as corruption and poverty.

“My cancer should no longer be a concern in the presidential campaign," Santiago said.

"I challenge my opponents and their allies to debate instead on issues of national concern. The cancer that demands our urgent attention is corruption and poverty,” she added.

Santiago said she was encouraged by the positive results of former US President Jimmy Carter's brain cancer treatment.

Carter's cancer started in his liver before spreading to his brain.

He recently declared that he was cured after magnetic resonance imaging tests showed no active indication of cancer cells.

“The positive development in the case of Mr. Carter’s cancer trumps the macabre wishes of my naysayers that I should die before I finish a six-year term as president," Santiago said.

"If Mr. Carter can do it, I, too, can beat cancer to serve the Filipino people,” she added.

Santiago was diagnosed with Stage Four lung cancer in June 2014.

Before announcing that she had the deadly disease, Santiago was already on an extended sick leave from the Senate due to chronic fatigue.

Santiago in October announced that she had 'defeated' the cancer and was running for president.

She, however, admitted that some symptoms of the cancer continued to show even though she claimed she had already gone through the worst.

For instance, Santiago's voice trembled when she defended the Senate resolution against the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement before her colleagues in early November.

“It’s part of the cancer, sometimes people tremble, sometimes we get tired. These are symptomatic but according to my doctors, especially the one that they consider the highest authority for left lung cancer, yan ang diagnosis niya. I have already gone over the hump,” she said when asked about her condition.

Santiago has pending measures in the Senate that aims to help cancer patients in the country. These include the her proposed Childhood Cancer Survivors’ Quality of Life Act. —Andrei Medina/NB, GMA News