MANILA, Philippines– Boredom might just be what will push Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago to run for the presidency in 2016.
“I expect to be able to run for president if I get well, simply because it’s boring, boring, boring. The landscape is boring,” Santiago, who is battling cancer, said with a chuckle, as she spoke on Monday to reporters from GMA 7.
Santiago was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in June 2014, but says she is faring very well in her struggle with the illness, under her present course of medication.
“But you can notice for example that I am always out of breath and I cannot always call to mind a word that I want to use,” she said.
“Otherwise, I am going forward. I can read my books very well. I still maintain my intellectual acuity. I don’t mistake other people for my husband, for example. I’m quite sure who he is,” she quipped, in her trademark wry and offbeat sense of humor.
Recently, Santiago communicated with Senate President Franklin Drilon and other senators to express her intention to fulfill her duties until 2016, but on “qualified medical leave.”
“I would like to tell you that I have decided to remain in office until the end of my term in 2016, on condition that I shall be on qualified medical leave,” she said in a Jan. 23 letter.
“This qualification is to allow me to discharge, on a certain priority basis, my important functions as a senator, particularly as a committee chair, for as long as I am allowed to do so by my condition,” she added.