Siazon to seek treatment in US

Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. will take a two-month leave of absence beginning Feb. 1 to undergo treatment of a prostate-related ailment in the United States.

Siazon, foreign secretary since the Ramos administration, said President Estrada allowed him to go on leave and wished him good health.

"To avoid going under the knife (I need the treatment)... If you don’t deal with it, it could be serious, that’s why I have to deal with it early. Kasi tumatanda (I’m growing older). It’s a preventive (measure)," Siazon told reporters.

Siazon will undergo treatment at the Stanford University Hospital in California until April.

He dismissed speculations that his two-month leave had something to do with Mr. Estrada’s impeachment trial and explained that the President understood why he had to be gone for so long.

"Why should I do that? I’m a career person. I don’t play politics," Siazon said. "Anyway, we don’t have major events until the third week of April, so it’s okay."

He also denied that his leave had anything to do with a petition circulating among Ateneo de Manila alumni asking Ateneans serving the Estrada administration to resign from office.

Siazon, as well as Energy Secretary Mario Tiaoqui, went to Ateneo high school with Mr. Estrada.

"I’m a career person. We have to follow the constitutional process. We have to wait for the result of the impeachment trial at the Senate. We have a Constitution. We should not have anarchy," he said.

Siazon refused to divulge the true nature of his illness for personal reasons but highly-placed sources revealed that the ailment was prostate-related.

"Can I keep it a secret? I don’t have to reveal my medical record because I am not a candidate (for elective office)," he said.

"Whatever treatment I (will) have is only 20 minutes a day. It’s just that we don’t have facilities here," he said, adding he could still do a lot of reading and "improve my golf."

Siazon said he learned of his ailment last December from local doctors and he went to the US to seek the best treatment available.

"Normally, you go under the knife. But it’s treatable by so many alternative approaches. So this one is statistically the same. If you go by knife, your lifestyle will be adversely affected and that would be bloody," he said.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Lauro Baja Jr. said the absence of Siazon would not be a problem because the secretary would be in constant touch with the DFA.

"The secretary will also be calling the shots," Baja said, adding that there was nothing serious about Siazon’s ailment.

Baja quoted the secretary as telling DFA officials: "Don’t worry. I will outlive all of you."