‘Compañero’ back on the saddle

Sen. Renato Cayetano attended the Senate session for the first time yesterday after he was rushed to the Cardinal Santos Hospital in San Juan in early September for internal bleeding.

Cayetano, still looking gaunt, said he is raring to do his work and push for the passage of his pet bills.

He denied reports that he was suffering from a liver disease, saying he suffered from a rare viral infection that led to internal bleeding. He said that the virus was detected when he underwent endoscopy at the Cardinal Santos during the last session day of the Senate last September.

"The doctor told me to have a lot of rest, and cut down on physical exertions," said Cayetano, who used to hold daily weightlifting and running exercises and weekly rounds of golf.

Cayetano, chairman of the Senate committee on education, said that now that he is back in harness, he is looking forward to the passage of bills regulating increases in tuition and making the Citizens’ Army Training optional among high school students.

As chairman of the Senate committee on energy, Cayetano said he would also resume deliberations on easing the burden of high power rates being suffered by consumers. — Efren Danao<