The President’s health

When Joseph Estrada won the presidency, STAR editors ribbed Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that she was one lucky vice president.

Why? Because rumors were rife at the time that Erap was suffering from a serious illness that could soon incapacitate him, to say the least, which would require his constitutional successor to step in.

GMA sat stone-faced through our ribbing, prompting us to dub her as the Sphinx.

As fate would have it, GMA did take over the presidency less than halfway through their term – not because Erap became seriously ill, but because of people power II, legally reinforced by “constructive resignation.”

Today Erap is preparing to seek reelection as Manila mayor. He waddles like a penguin because of bum knees, but otherwise still looks healthy enough to nosh on his favorite chicharon Bisaya.

GMA herself, now Speaker of the HOR, has undergone a remarkable recovery from her days under “hospital arrest” for plunder, when she often showed up in public with a neck brace and sitting in a wheelchair.

When Erap was vice president, the prospect of his taking over the nation’s top post nearly triggered a heart attack among certain quarters when then president Fidel Ramos suffered a stroke from a blocked carotid.

FVR made a quick recovery and to this day is still party-hopping and enjoying his retirement.

So I’m taking with a grain of salt the latest rumors, fanned by certain quarters notably communist leader Jose Ma. Sison, that President Duterte is gravely ill and recently went into a coma.

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No one knows if Joma Sison has an insider in this communism-sympathetic administration with reliable intel on the President’s health. Maybe Joma could be merely getting back at Duterte for saying the exiled rebel leader is dying of cancer.

But Joma has succeeded in fanning the flames of this rumor that has been around since Duterte ran for president. Because of the revival of the rumors, Duterte has been under close public scrutiny in his recent public appearances.

Some persons old enough to remember say he’s looking as ashen as his idol, Ferdinand Marcos, when the dictator was suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus.

The autoimmune disease required Marcos to undergo regular kidney dialysis. No one could say if it was the medication or the illness itself that made him pallid and caused his face to bloat and his eyes to be watery.

Even after being forced into exile in Hawaii by people power, however, Marcos still lasted three years. This was the Washington Post’s account dated Sept. 29, 1989 of his demise:

Ferdinand E. Marcos, 72, who as ruler of the Philippines for more than two decades impoverished his country and came to personify corruption and greed in power, died yesterday at St. Francis Medical Center in Honolulu. Marcos, who had been in the hospital for nine months, had systemic lupus erythematosus, a degenerative kidney disorder that can spread inflammation to other vital organs. He had secretly undergone two kidney transplants. He also had heart and lung ailments, pneumonia and bacterial infections.

Duterte looks much healthier than the fallen Marcos after the EDSA revolt. So if Duterte says he’s going to finish his term in 2022, I can believe him.

It doesn’t mean he’s in perfect health. But at 73, who can be?

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During the 2016 campaign, Duterte had lashed out at a journalist whom he accused of being a yellow paid hack for writing that he was suffering from cancer.

Duterte has publicly admitted suffering from daily migraine, spinal pain that is relieved when he pushes a vein in his temple, Buerger’s Disease, and Barrett’s Esophagus from GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disease. According to medical websites, Barrett’s Esophagus can progress into cancer if not kept in check. During painful bouts of Buerger’s Disease, meanwhile, the patient may need bed rest. The two afflictions are smoking-related.

This could explain the rumors that Duterte has cancer, and why he sometimes disappears for a few days in Davao City. The other explanation is chronic pain, which he has admitted suffering from as a result of a motorcycle spill during his Harley-riding days.

Chronic pain is also debilitating. About a year ago, Duterte let slip that he was using fentanyl patches for pain management. The opioid, now the focus of anti-narcotics operations in the US, was used for the first time this month to help execute a murder convict in Nebraska.

When reports emerged that fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine and 25 to 50 times more potent than heroin and has been blamed for the deaths of US pop music stars Prince and Tom Petty, Duterte stopped mentioning his medication.

But if he’s telling the truth in assessing the intensity of his chronic pain at a seven on a scale of 1 to 10, he will need a powerful drug for pain management. With the legalization of medical marijuana still just a germ of an idea in Congress, it’s possible that he’s still on fentanyl.

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How the President finds medical relief is none of our business – unless it is affecting his mind and his ability to govern. So far, however, he still looks, acts and especially talks like the same mercurial Duterte, the populist firebrand who drew millions disaffected with daang matuwid in 2016. Those millions picked the antithesis of Noynoy Aquino’s “anointed” Mar Roxas, fully aware of Duterte’s human rights record and rumors about his poor health.

Duterte should also blame himself for fanning speculative reports, by saying he is tired, frustrated with the country’s intractable problems, and ready to step down.

This rumor has in fact dogged him for some time now – that he would quit and turn over the presidency when (not if) Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. wins his electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

Marcos’ victory before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, according to the rumor mill, is a fait accompli. But the electoral protest is crawling along as usual at the PET. The Palace buzz is that Duterte can’t stand the prospect of the so-called yellows returning to power through Robredo.

If only to prevent this from happening, he’s likely telling the truth: he’ll finish his term in 2022. Even if it means working through chronic pain and other afflictions, until the last agonizing moment.