Out of the fire

By Gonzalo Duque

By the time you read this column Sunday, January 16, I am already officially 70 years old. My good friend Ermin has been requesting me to resume my column “Playing with Fire” since I stopped writing here two years ago due to my failing health.  I told him I will resume writing when I feel better.

Well, from a scale of 1 to 10, I now rate myself a “6” health-wise, good enough to write a column. Since life goes on and I promised I will resume my column writing, I’m back officially. But here’s the rub: How often I can write a column, still remains to be seen!

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I have to thank Ermin because when Vera Files wrote its so-called investigative piece on the Duques, especially on our alleged connections to the powers that be in Malacanang, he was there to defend me. 

He reacted sharply to the report. Truth be told, I was never interviewed by Vera Files yet it made it appear I was replaced, implying I was removed from office as administrator of the Philippine Coconut Authority.  Gumawa sila ng fake news.

I assumed my post in the PCA on September 1, 2019, starting as director and later  appointed as administrator. The African Swine Fever had just broken out. It may have been just a coincidence but to me it was a sort of bad omen.

Truth was, I submitted my letter of resignation on September 14 with the medical certificate issued by the doctor attached to it. I was asked to rest because a stressful life will not only bring me down but may also cause my demise.

Now, I can say, I am Out of the Fire.

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Recall that a year earlier, my brother-in-law, Governor Nestor Espenilla of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas died. He became ill at the age of 59 and died following year. (During the wake for him attended by President Duterte, I offered my resignation as then commissioner of the Social Security System. I formalized my resignation later but this was not immediately acted on).

My father, who was governor of Pangasinan, died at age 59. There was an old belief that says any number that ends with 9 is dangerous. I am now 69 (presstime)  and I will turn 70 in a few days. (If I go before January 16, consider this my first and last column!).

Anyway, when I submitted my resignation as PCA administrator on September 14, 2019 after a few days in office, my resignation was again not immediately acted upon. I had to plead with my former classmate in Malacanang to accept my resignation. Even then, it again took them some time before I was allowed to go.

Well, I  learned it was easier for me getting appointed to a government post than resigning because President Duterte was insistent on me to stay on to continue working with him.

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Am I old or still young?

When I was SSS commissioner, I was admitted in almost all hospitals located at East Avenue in Quezon City: Philippine Heart Center, National Kidney Institute  and East Avenue Medical Center. The only hospital that did not admit me was the Pediatric Center of the Philippines.  

I was then taking insulin when my cardiologist advised me against taking it because he said I am an insulin-resistance person. He simply made me take some medications.

Then he saw a block in my heart’s artery after my ECG. He immediately prepared me for angioplasty. On seeing my angiogram, he said I was lucky because a collateral vein had branched out so the block in my heart was rerouted. No surgery needed, he just prescribed me some more medicines.

It was then that I asked him, in front of some beautiful nurses. “Doc, can I still do it?” He replied “Of course, Sir Gonzalo, you can still make love!” The nurses smiled.

At the Cardinal Santos Medical Center. I was visited by a nutritionist who told me I cannot eat this and that food  because of my health condition. I told her that there are only 10 commandments in the Bible and I am a violator to two — the 6th and the 9th. “Itong ipinagbabawal mo sa akin na kainin is more than 100 foods. How can I survive?” That made my depression even worse!

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My column title next week will already be “Out of the Fire”, no longer “Playing with Fire”. I will try to be tamer and will discuss only issues of importance to my locality and to the nation.

Anyway, see you next issue!

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