Stem cell therapy `rejuvenated’ me, says Maceda

MANILA, Philippines – Former Senator Ernesto Maceda Jr. admitted Monday that he has undergone stem cell therapy that “rejuvenated” him, placing him among the ranks of politicians who underwent the treatment which includes ousted President Joseph Estrada and Senate President Juan Enrile.

“So far so good, I admit I underwent stem cell therapy, it helped me get my strength [back],” Maceda, 77, said in the interview over Radyo Inquirer 990AM after he was asked about the state of his health especially with the coming 2013 campaign period next year.

Maceda is running for a Senate seat in the 2013 midterm elections under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). Estrada, 75, and Enrile, 88, two of the so-called “3-kings” of UNA, have already undergone stem cell therapy before him.

“As you grow older, your cells also grow older,” Maceda explained in a separate interview with INQUIRER.net. “With stem cells, the cells in your body will be renewed …  you will be rejuvenated.”

“I have been going around [the country] for more than six months already and I have not felt any illness,” Maceda said.

He said that he was given 16 injections, one for every organ, when he undertook the treatment in Germany March of this year.

“It did not take more than 20 minutes,” Maceda said. There have not been any negative side-effects from the treatment, he said.

The procedure cost him around P800,000 in Germany, he said. It costs more than P2 million if done here in the country, he added.

Patients have an option to be injected again after a year, he said.

The use of stem cells has become controversial due to the use of human embryonic stem cells, with objections based on moral and religious grounds.