‘If Miriam says she’s well, I believe her’

SEN. BONGBONG Marcos on Wednesday said he is inclined to believe Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago when she says that she is well enough to pursue the presidency.

“If she says she can campaign, that she is now well, then who should I believe but Senator Miriam,” Marcos told a morning television show.

Santiago has claimed that she has recovered from her Stage 4 lung cancer and that was why she was running for President in 2016.

It was the first time that Marcos, who is running for Vice President, spoke about a possible team-up with Santiago.

Santiago earlier declared that Marcos was her choice as running mate.

In the TV show, Marcos said his discussions with Santiago were still going on and going well and that they were forming a “loose coalition.”

Santiago, who is running under her People’s Reform Party, earlier said she and Marcos would be campaigning separately most of the time.

There has been concern about whether Santiago is well enough to run for President more than a year after she announced she had lung cancer.

A doctor has demanded that Santiago release her medical records, but the senator declined, invoking her right to privacy.

Former senator Kit Tatad on Wednesday said that the public had a right to know about Santiago’s condition.

“If she has such claims and it affects the public interest, she can’t deny the public. It came from her, so let’s verify if she indeed got sick and has been cured of it,” said Tatad, who was Santiago’s running mate in her failed presidential bid in 1998. Christine O. Avendaño and Jovic Yee