SC justice Maria Filomena Singh opens up about battle with cancer

Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh on Tuesday opened up about her battle with cancer, saying it was a reminder to treasure each day and to do what she can, while she can.

"That is why when people ask me, 'why do you have this urgency?' It's because of that. I feel that I am here because I need to do something, and so while I have the time I will do it, regardless of whatever is happening to me," Singh said.

As one of the panelists during the SC's first Distinguished Women's Forum, Singh bared that she was diagnosed with cancer in 2025, an experience she described as "heavy" and "challenging."

"I did chemo, I had surgery, and then after that, you know, I was cleared and then I went back to work. I'm still doing oral chemo," Singh said.

"It's very challenging. There are days na parang, it's so heavy. You feel like you don't want to get up, parang hindi mo kaya, parang when is this gonna end. Why do I have to be the one to carry this?" she added.

(It's very challenging. There are days that it's so heavy. You feel like you don't want to get up, like you can't, and you ask yourself when is this gonna end. Why do I have to be the one to carry this?)

Singh, however, said she would gain another perspective when she thought about people who are having a more difficult time. 

"And you tell yourself how can you complain with everything that has been given to you, with everything that you have been blessed with? You have no reason to complain. So you get up again and you fight another day," she said.

She also felt that she was given somewhat of an advantage as her diagnosis gave her time to prepare herself.

"But there are others who are taken so suddenly away from us. We don't know when it's going to come. Again that's a reminder to all of us that we have to value each day that is given to us," she said.

"To me, translating that value is by working, no, by doing what we can while we are here. I always believe that we are where we are at any given point in time because that was the plan for us," she added.

Other panelists were retired chief justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, retired associate justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, and retired associate justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez. — VDV, GMA Integrated news