Santiago: I’m perfectly normal now

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. SCREENGRAB FROM SEN. MIRIAM DEFENSOR-SANTIAGO’S FACEBOOK PAGE

After skipping a month of campaigning for her anticancer treatment, presidential candidate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she is in good shape and is “perfectly normal.”

“I’m perfectly normal now as you can tell just from my voice and from the way I speak,” she said in a video posted on her Facebook page on Friday night.

Santiago was diagnosed with an advanced stage of lung cancer in 2014 and claimed she has conquered it when she announced her candidacy last year.

But last month, she announced that she will take a short break from the campaign to undergo a clinical trial for an anticancer treatment.

“Sa lahat ng taga suporta ko nasa Facebook, nagpapasalamat ako ngayon pa lang sa malasakit at sakripisyo na pinakita nyo para sakin. Di ko kayo nakilala isa isa dahil busy rin tayo pero gusto ko rin malaman nyo na gusto ko rin malaman ng taong bayan ay, na bumalik na ang kalusugan ko dahil meron akong bagong gamot na wala pa ngang  pangalan kundi code lang, na nagpapalit ng personalidad ng may cancer at ibinabalik dati sa personalidad ng normal na tao,” she said in the one-minute and eighteen-second video addressed to her supporters.

(To all my supporters on Facebook, I thank you as early as now for your concern and sacrifices. I didn’t get the chance to know each of you because we had been busy, but I want you to know and I also want our countrymen to know that my health has returned because I now have medication that doesn’t even have a name yet except for a code, that alters the personality of the cancer patient, bringing it back to the person’s normal personality.)

Santiago’s campaign is limited to campus tours, similar to her 1992 presidential campaign that she almost won. She relies on the youth vote, as she is popular among students and in social media.

READ: Santiago to youth: Help end culture of corruption

The senator has topped several social media and campus polls but lagging behind commercial surveys. Since the campaign launch for the national elections last Feb. 9, she has only made 10 public appearances.

READ: Miriam ‘disheartened’ by surveys
The senator, however, appeared to be healthier and stronger in all her four public appearances since her return to the campaign trail almost two weeks ago, unlike in her previous campus tours.

In the same video, she said she was happy that people are switching sides and has also called on “undecided voters” to be prudent.

“I’m happy to notice your reports that you are switching sides so we all know itong panahon na ito ay magdesisyon ang undecided voters. Crucial, napakaimportante ang mga naiwan na araw na pwede natin bilangin (this is the time when the undecided voters will make up their mind. Crucial, these last remaining days are very important as we count down [to election day]),” she said.

“Kaya sana magpatuloy lang kayo sa inyong malasakit para sabay-sabay tayong pumunta ng Malacañang (I hope you continue with your concern so that we can go to Malacañang together),” she added. CDG

READ: Envi group declares Santiago ‘greenest,’ Roxas ‘meanest’