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Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Editorials: Cause of death
There is this speculation about what led to the death of Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ): that his defeat in the last presidential election had caused it. He was so depressed that it set off Saturday's stroke, from which he never recovered.
Doctors’ explanation doesn’t come close to that. Clinical and bereft of sentiment, medical opinion points to a failure of bodily function. Blood flow to the brain was blocked and parts of the brain lost energy supply, killing affected tissues.
While grief and despondence impair good health, the more likely cause is the affluent lifestyle that, like sand on riverbank, piles up deposits that eventually clog blood arteries.
Besides, FPJ was not the kind of person who would sulk, his friends say. He would rather plot revenge or ways to succeed where before he failed.
Not only is the lay person's view about FPJ's death out of synch with medical facts, it tends to distort appreciation of past events.
Some people think that the movie actor's death validates their vote against him and their preference for his rival President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
They had avoided voting for a sick man who would have collapsed while in office.
That theory rests on the assumption that the ailment existed during the presidential campaign.
FPJ's alleged sexual dalliances and excessive sexual energy were the issue then, never his health.
FPJ pursued his election protest against declared winner President Arroyo.
Yet, he never had illusions about unseating the President during the contested term. He just wanted to show that cheating had robbed him of victory.
With his death, it is more doubtful if that could be proven. They will remain speculations, as shaky as the current speculations about the cause of his death.
Start of myth
Whether you like FPJ or not, he will be more popular than ever. Death tends to enlarge a dead man’s virtues and obscure his faults.
That he died after the failed quest for the presidency will cast on FPJ the aura of martyrdom. He campaigned for “reform and change, a better life for the poor and oppressed.” Followers and sympathizers will say he continued that fight in his protest against alleged widespread fraud. He was “robbed of the election for which he made the supreme sacrifice.”
Myths begin with public relations, from misinformation on scrolls and tablets of the past to today’s high-powered media blitz.
The myth making is on.
(December 15, 2004 issue)
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