Tomas clarifies: It’s just a pee bag
President Rodrigo Duterte's tongue-lashing of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña on Thursday included a remark about the mayor's “pee bag” that's been attached to his side since his surgery many years ago.
Now that the topic was brought back into the open, Osmeña found an opportunity to explain his medical condition to his constituents.
“It's not that bad,” the mayor wrote in a post on Facebook. “At least now I don't wake up at night to pee. But leaks are sometimes irritating to have especially in the middle of the day. They have become a little more frequent lately because of a complex hernia that developed from the surgery that's gotten worse over the past few years.
“But at least it's just urine and not feces, which is what some people are asking.”
Osmeña was diagnosed with stage 4 urinary bladder cancer in 2008 that eventually led doctors to remove his bladder, prostate, and 42 lymph nodes.
“Because of the cancer, the doctors had to remove my bladder and replace it with an external pouch that collects my urine through a stoma and routs it to another bag that is strapped to my leg,” his post read. The pouch is called a urostomy bag.
Despite the physical condition, the mayor assured that he is still capable of running the affairs of the city.
“Cancer and how it changes one's life is not something I wish anyone would have to go through, but I promise you that I will not allow it to stop me from doing my duty. If the day comes that I am no longer able to do my job, I will be the first to tell you and I will immediately resign as mayor,” his post read.
Osmeña has been also declared cancer-free several times by his doctors who conducted recurring tests on him. He had been meaning to leave the country to undergo minor operation to fix his hernia but had postponed the trip four times because of alarming state of Cebu.
He couldn't do so, however, at a time when there's a splurge in unsolved killings here, he said.
Duterte, who was in Mandaue City Thursday to grace the city's 49th Charter Day anniversary, spent about five minutes of his speech calling out Osmeña's alleged arrogance.
“Hoy Tomas! Dili na ni panahon sa Katsila ha, kanang style nimo nga mura ka'g si kinsa, taas kaayo ka manulti. Ingon pa ka nga ako protector ng shabu. Ingnan tika magkita ta, anak ka ng p*ta ayaw pagtuong kinsa (ka). Dili gani ta magkasinabot sa atong istorya tamparuson taka sa daghang tawo. Ayaw ko binuangi ana kay dili ko Cebuano nga imong daugdaugon,” the president said.
He said Osmeña should go to the Pacific and take Cebu with him if he does not want the national government to dip its fingers into matters concerning the city.
It remained unclear what specific issue had earned the ire of Duterte, although his remarks came after the mayor launched a verbal tirade against local police officials, believing they may have had a hand in the recent spate of killings.