PH AMBASSADOR TO U.S. WILLY GAA REVEALS HE HAS LUNG CANCER
[PHOTO - AMBASSADOR WILLY GAA]
WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 15, 2010 (STAR) By Jose Katigbak / STAR Washington Bureau – But for what he described as "an inconvenient thing," 2010 would have been a near perfect year for Philippine ambassador to the United States Willy Gaa.
He played a major role in the US Millennium Challenge Corp. giving the Philippines a $434-million development grant, orchestrated a one-on-one meeting in New York between Presidents Benigno Aquino and Barack Obama and masterminded the transfer of the consular section from the embassy to a bigger office in the old chancery to better serve the public.
Professionally he couldn't have had a better year.
"I accomplished all my plans. There were no missed opportunities, no regrets. I was looking forward to my retirement (on July 24, 2011 when he turns 65)," he said.
Then he found out he had lung cancer.
When a doctor told him the troubling news after a routine checkup for a nagging cough in September, Gaa said his whole world collapsed.
"It hit me hard. I couldn't believe it. Why me, I asked myself as I saw my retirement plans crumble," he told The STAR.
Gaa admitted he went through a variety of emotions including fear, anger and sadness but after the initial shock, he decided to face up to the problem, challenge it and beat it.
Surgeons excised one-third of the right upper lobe of his lung after a five-hour lobectomy in a New York hospital and he now faces four to six months of chemotherapy and radiation.
During the interview he said he felt stronger than he did before the operation and acknowledged with a chuckle that his retirement plans – becoming a university professor, traveling and doing some consultancy work – were coming back into focus.
Asked what he thought of former Central Bank governor Jose Cuisia Jr., Aquino's nominee to be the new ambassador to the United States, Gaa said Cuisia was an excellent choice to succeed him.
"He'll be a good addition to the economic team of the Aquino government. He'll be good for the embassy and he'll feel at home in the US business community. In a word, he'll be a plus," said Gaa, one of the few Filipino career ambassadors posted to Washington.
He expects Cuisia to assume command in the first quarter of the new year after his confirmation by the Commission on Appointments.
Trying to make light of his situation, Gaa said one of the first thoughts that flashed in his mind when told he had cancer was "na loco na."
"This is a very inconvenient thing to have," he said.
Gaa should have been recalled home in 2008 after six years overseas. But his term was extended by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
When President Aquino assumed office in May 2010 his term was further extended.
It is a measure of Gaa's stature and accomplishments that he has lasted in the plum Washington post for as long as he has.
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