One of the sidelights of last Sunday’s presidential debate held at the Capitol University in Cagayan de Oro City was Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s sharp retort to a question about her health posed by GMA TV news producer Jessica Soho.
When asked about her condition, Sen. Santiago brushed it aside and said there was nothing in the Constitution that barred anyone from running for public office, even as lofty as the country’s presidency, because of his or her illness.
“It is my right under the Constitution to run for president,” the senator retorted, but the way she said it left little doubt in the eyes of the public about her fragile health.
For the duration of the debate, the audience in the school’s auditorium and the TV viewers saw little of the feisty, sharp-tongued Santiago that had fascinated generations of voters who are familiar with the former judge turned politician.
The senator’s supporters could only hope that she feels better once the presidential debate shifts to the University of the Philippines Cebu next month and by that time, she might have recovered enough to perform better.
For contrary to how she may want to believe or tell others to believe, a candidate’s health is a critical concern of voters especially considering Santiago’s choice of running mate in Sen. Bongbong Marcos, whom victims of martial law and Marcos supporters fear/believe to be the second coming of a Marcos dictatorship.
But it’s not just Santiago whose health came under public scrutiny. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who coincidentally was quite warm to Senator Santiago in last Sunday’s debate, was hospitalized for suffering what he said was a severe migraine.
When pressed about his health, Duterte admitted that he had a slipped disc from a motorcycle accident 10 years ago; Barrett’s esophagus, which involves tissue lining in his esophagus; and Buerger’s disease, the constriction of blood vessels caused by accumulation of nicotine.
Duterte’s retort to Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas’ challenge to produce his medical records to which he agreed with the condition that Roxas show proof that he was circumcised has drawn its fair share of likes and dislikes.
Again it showed just how much the public wants to know—and it is their right to know—about their candidate’s health status regardless if it is detrimental to their election chances.
Former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña should know, after being questioned time and again by his rival Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama on his health to which he issued statements reiterating that he is cancer-free.
There are exceptions, of course—US President Franklin Roosevelt was wheelchair-bound when he led the US out of the Great Depression and World War II—but still, candidates should be forthright with the voting public and prove that they cannot only endure but overcome the physical rigors of public office.
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