Miriam says lung tumor shrinking, eyes presidential run in 2016

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Wednesday said the tumor in her left lung has decreased in size after a six-week treatment.

“The latest lab test shows that the cancer cells are waving a white flag,” Santiago said in a statement, where she once again mentioned the possibility of her running for president in the 2016 elections.

“I’m not going to be coy. Society leaders have urged me to seek the presidency. I can rise to the occasion, although I was following the other sign posts on the road to recovery,” she said.

Santiago ran for the presidency in the 1992 elections but lost to former general Fidel Ramos.

According to Santiago, St. Luke's Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City issued a report last August 12 stating that based on PET/CT Scan, the tumor in her left lung “has regressed.”

Santiago announced in July that she has Stage IV lung cancer. She said the diagnosis was made last June by oncologists led by lung cancer specialist Dr. Ronald Natale and Dr. Gary Lorenzo, coordinating with cardiologist and former Health secretary Dr. Esperanza Cabral, herself a cancer survivor.

The senator, who had been on extended sick leave even before the diagnosis, said she was placed on medication called Tarceva (Erlotinib) for six weeks, at one tablet a day.

“During this time, I only have to work on my stamina. During the six-week period of treatment, I was even able to work on the 2014 editions of some 10 law books which are scheduled for release by the end of the year,” she recalled.

Career options

Santiago said she will run for the highest elected post in the next presidential elections if there are enough “like-minded” supporters like Fr. Joaquin Bernas.

She noted that Bernas, a recognized authority in constitutional law and a member of the 1986 Constitutional Convention, said in a television show last Tuesday that President Benigno Aquino III should no longer seek a second term and to “give Miriam naman a chance.”

Under the 1987 Constitution, the President is limited to a single term of six years. Aquino had hinted in a television interview recently that he was open to the idea of running again to continue the reforms that he started in 2010.

“I have licked cancer, and I’m actually thinking of several career options," Santiago said.

"By 2016, I will be disqualified by law to seek another term as senator. At present, my life projects include participation in the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) based in Rome, or writing books on foreign policy at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.,” she added.

She also said she was open to coalescing with the Liberal Party headed by Transportation Sec. Joseph Emilio Abaya, and the Nationalista Party headed by former Senator Manny Villar.          

“After I was diagnosed with cancer, Sen. Manny went to my house and told me, among other things, that my popularity level is very high. But he also said that he is encouraging several hopefuls to raise their survey ratings,” she said.

In the past elections, Santiago always ran under her own People’s Reform Party. In the 2010 elections, she was a guest senatorial candidate of NP. —Amita Legaspi/KBK, GMA News