Vidal to Tommy O: Keep your temper

CEBU CITY — Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal visited Mayor Tomas Osmeña in the hospital the other day, and among the things he advised him was "not to be angry always" and to take things as they come.

Vidal visited Osmeña at the Chong Hua Hospital shortly after he arrived from Manila.

He told the mayor, who was readmitted to the hospital for what his physician described as "hypertensive crisis," that he will devote a special prayer for his full recovery.

The Cardinal said Osmeña was asleep when he arrived. He would not have wanted to disturb the mayor but that Margot, Osmeña’s wife, woke him up.

"I told him I just wanted to greet him and tell him that I am praying for him. I also told him that I hope God will allow him to go back to his work soon. That’s the only thing I wanted to say. Then I told him to go back to sleep," Vidal said.

"He said, ‘Thank you very much.’ Then he said he has so many problems. I said, ‘Yes I know.’ I told him to just take it one after the other. As the saying goes, ‘How do you eat a camel? Piece by piece lang," Vidal said.

"I also told him not to be angry always. It makes your blood pressure go up. You imitate me. I take things as they come," he added.

Vidal said he also discussed with Margot the mayor’s smoking and drinking habits.

"I told Margot to advise him that, as of now, he should cease smoking and especially drinking," he said.

Osmeña had said in his first media interview since re-entering the hospital that he was quitting smoking and that he had already given away his stock of cigarettes.

Osmeña was rushed unconscious to the hospital on March 9 after he collapsed in church while standing as sponsor at a wedding.

He remained unconscious for nearly half an hour. His doctor, Manuel Lim, said Osmeña suffered a sudden rise in blood pressure.

It was found that some blood vessels in his brain were damaged during the attack and he had to undergo a procedure called "four-vessel cerebral angiography" to determine if he suffered from brain aneurysm but the result came out negative. — Freeman News Service