A CANDIDATE’S DIARY, DAY 6: HI-BLOOD SCARE RUINS CAMPAIGN

A very funny incident happened on Day 6 of the campaign.

With the daily heat sending the mercury up, I noticed a slight discomfort on Day 5 of the campaign, prompting me to drop by a hospital to have my BP checked.

It registered 140/90, quite high especially for somebody whose regular BP is 120/80 but I proceeded just the same to Alamada where I had two sorties, one in the public market area and the second in Barangay Dado where I spent the night in a supporter’s home.

Waking up the following morning for another sortie in Barangay Bao, I tried using the digital wrist BP instrument which I bought the day before.

It was erratic so I decided to ask if the barangay had a BP instrument to check on my actual blood pressure.

When my supporter’s daughter who is a nurse arrived, she brought with her an old BP instrument and proceeded to check me.

The result scared everybody. The reading was 160/100 which was very high. The strange thing was even with that blood pressure, I was not dizzy.

But just to make sure, I called my friend retired Col. Samuel Afdal and asked if his chopper pilot, Capt. Rey Acosta, husband of Davao’s Mabel Sunga Acosta, could pick me up and bring me to Davao City for a check up.

The chopper arrived about an hour later and flew me to Davao City. But while we were airborne, we flew over Barangay Bao where I was supposed to hold a caucus.

From the air, I saw a lot of people so I decided to ask Capt. Acosta if he could land for a few minutes just so people will not feel disappointed.

After talking to people and having pictures taken with them, we proceeded to Davao City where my son-in-law, Chito Solis, was waiting at the hangar to bring me to the DMSF Hospital where my daughter, Dr. Maria Krista, was working.

Using the hospital’s huge BP instrument, Dr. Maria Krista felt relieved at first but irritated later when she saw that the reading was 120/80.

“Papa, your BP is normal,” she said. A second check showed a BP of 120/70.

Since I was already in the hospital, I decided to have a general check up just to make sure that I am fit for the campaign. The tests showed that everything was normal except for the fatty liver which I have had for so many years.

Later, when I talked to my staff who were with me in Dado, Alamada, I finally discovered what went wrong.

“Nagpa check din kami Sir. Lahat kami high blood,” they all told me laughing.

It was then when I was able to solve the mystery behind the very high BP reading in Dado, Alamada: the BP instrument of the barangay was defective and everybody in the group who had their BP checked showed very high blood pressure.

The boys did not tell me about their experience and it ruined our campaign schedule for the day.

But I was happy just the same knowing that I am fit to go through the rest of the campaign period.

(Photo caption: People of Bao, Alamada join me for a photo beside the helicopter owned by my friend Col. Samuel G. Afdal.)