Jovy’s unfinished mission

When his turn to address his audience of about 1,000 admirers finally came, during the launching of his latest book, A Journey of Struggle & Hope, at the Valle Verde Country Club in his hometown of Pasig, former Senate President Jovito R. Salonga did what many did not expect. Instead of first conveying his greetings to the high and the mightly in Philippine society, he uttered his words in praise of the great doctors who had saved his life.

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It was with genuine and profound gratitude that he thanked the doctors who, on that fateful day of August 21, 1971, when an awesome grenade blast killed almost the entire Liberal Party senatorial slate during the LP proclamation rally at Plaza Miranda, performed a miracle. When everyone thought Jovy Salonga would not survive the massive injuries he suffered from the grenade explosion, his doctors, under the direction of God, saved his life.

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Last Sunday afternoon, at this book-launching, Jovy asked his doctors (of course, those who are still alive) to please stand up and be acknowledged. Five of them, in formal Barong Pilipino, did – and one of them was my own doctor, Dr. Augusto P. Sarmiento, a noted surgeon and the best neck cancer specialist in the entire country, who, in collaboration with an equally eminent surgeon, Dr. Enrique Ona, conducted a radical neck dissection on me last March 2.

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On the eve of my surgery, Senator Salonga had called up at Medical City, to say he would pray for me and to tell me that Dr. Sarmiento was one of the doctors who had saved his life in 1971. "Dr. Sarmiento is great doctor and you can rely on him," Jovy told me.

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The first thing I did after Senator Salonga’s book-launching was to page through the chapter dealing with the Plaza Miranda Bombing (pages 161-176). What I wanted to find out from Jovy’s memoir was the extent of the damage he had suffered from the grenade blast. Senator Salonga said that in the evening of August 21, Dr. Sarmiento and his family had just arrived home from a Chinese dinner to celebrate his 47th birthday when he got an emergency call from his dear friend, Dr. Salvador Busuego, asking him to rush to the Manila Medical Center.

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Here is Dr. Sarmiento’s account of what he saw:

It was shortly after that same evening when I saw the senator in terrible shape. I began the addominal incision, the entire management team of the senator having unanimously agreed that the abdomen – with multiple punctured wounds, bleeding and distended – demanded first priority. All bowel perforations, lacerations, and bleeding areas, particularly the liver, were meticulously sutured, legated and coagulated. The abdominal cavity was then copiously washed with saline solution and automatically closed.

The next region needing surgical exploration was the chest. I assisted Dr. Pedro Lavadia, the operating chest surgeon. We saw that a shrapnel had perforated the arch of the aorta and the adjoining vena cava with a resulting arterio-venous fistula. We removed the shrapnel. We decided to leave the av-fistula problem well enough alone as the fused vessels were intact and showed no bleeding at the time. There being no other internal injuries, the chest was closed. It was a horrible sight."

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Dr. Manuel Rivera, Jovy’s other bone doctor, said that Jovy went three major operations in the space of 12 hours. In the words of Dr. Rivera:

The first operation was performed by Dr. Augusto Sarmiento and his group on the Senator’s abdomen. The next operation was performed on his chest by Dr. Pete Lavadia and his group. I understand it was during this operation that the Senator’s heart stopped functioning, something like a cardiac arrest. They had to revive him. An artery was damaged or cut off. After this operation, it was the turn of the bone doctors. Dr. Rafael Recto and I operated on his legs, arms and hands. We got through around ten o’clock in the morning. We did not sleep the whole night. When I got home, I told my wife Flora I don’t know how Senator Salonga could possibly survive."

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From Jovy’s memoir, it is difficult to imagine how he was able to survive the grenade blast and the surgeries he had gone through. Men who are lesser mortals would have given up – but not Senator Salonga. For months and years after that fateful day of August 21, he struggled to return to his normal life. Perhaps, it was his ardent desire to continue serving his beloved countryand to carry out God’s mission that made him overcome.

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A JOURNEY OF STRUGGLE & HOPE – this is a book that is a must reading for all Filipino who love their country. This "Memoir of Jovito R. Salonga" serves as a beacon light to all those who would want to help guide the country out of the prevailing darkness. Get a copy from your nearest bookstore.

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The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, under the leadership of Chairman Honey Girl de Leon and General Manager Virgilio Angelo, is taking on a new tack. It will try to help in the national effort to prevent disease by advocating a primary health care program for indigent beneficiaries. This means that instead of merely giving out aid for medical treatment, the PCSO will give focus on disease and disability prevention.

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Actually, there are many international organizations that are involved in preventing disease and sicknesses. One of them is an old NGO in Great Britain – "Impact International" – that is affiliated with the United Nations. Prevent malnutrition, prevent deafness, prevent TB – these and many others are among the goals of Impact International founded by the late Sir John Wilson.

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About ten years ago, I, together with concerned personages like Dr. Florentino Solon, Mariter Macapagal, and Fleur de Lys Torres, put up a chapter of Impact International. We called this NGO "Impact Philippines Foundation." Since that time, we were able to evolve many meaningful projects that prevented diseases and sicknesses in selected communities.

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PULSEBEAT: Of the incumbent and elected senators, only Senator Loren Legarda showed up at Jovy Salonga’s book-launching. This only goes to show that reading books is getting out of vogue, especially in the Philippine Senate. When Jovy Salonga expressed fear that the plunder cases against deposed President Estrada might drag on and on, just like the wealth cases against former President Marcos, because of "enterprising" lawyers, many eyes in the crowd turned towards former Senator Rene Saguisag, who took time to attend the book-launching and who was seated at the back of the Valle Verde Ballroom.

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My e-mail addresses: <[email protected]> and <[email protected]>