Sin out of hospital, marks 49th year as priest

Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin got out of the hospital yesterday afternoon perhaps to be home in time for his 49th anniversary of being a priest.

In a check at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in Mandaluyong City, where the Cardinal was confined since Sunday morning, Sin was discharged around 3 p.m. and immediately went home to the nearby Villa San Miguel.

Sources said Sin was with a doctor and a private nurse, Auxiliary Bishop of Manila Socrates Villegas and his personal secretary Fr. Joseph Sescon when he got out of the hospital. They were on board a car going home.

"The logical conclusion for the Cardinal’s urgent discharge from the hospital could be that his system has adapted well to the lowered dosage of medication and so he could already go home," an official at the Archdiocesan Office told The STAR.

According to the source, Sin’s brother, Dr. Ramon, was even surprised to learn that the Cardinal was already discharged from the hospital. The doctor was supposed to check Sin’s condition yesterday afternoon.

On Tuesday, the Archdiocesan Office has reported that doctors have allowed Sin to go home by either Wednesday or Thursday since his health continued to progress. But the following day, the Archdiocesan Office said doctors have to keep Sin one more day at the hospital as he was subjected to further observation to ensure that the lowered dosage of medication will work on Sin.