Mike Arroyo now okay -- Palace
By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 13:29:00 11/22/2008
Filed Under: Health of First Gentleman, Travel & Commuting
MANILA, Philippines -- First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo suffered stomach pain, not a heart attack, while en route to the United States, but he's now “out of danger,'' Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Saturday.
”As of 1:30 a.m. (Manila time), he's out of danger,'' he said in a phone interview.
Ermita said the First Gentleman complained of “intense stomach pain'' during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's chartered flight to Los Angeles, forcing it to land in Osaka, Japan.
After the plane landed late Friday night in Osaka, Arroyo was taken by an ambulance to a hospital for treatment, and was declared out of danger two hours later, Ermita said.
”He's out of danger. He wasn't in serious condition,'' he said.
The President, who was stopping over in Los Angeles en route to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Summit in Peru on November 22 and 23, accompanied her husband to the hospital.
Arroyo's three personal physicians at the St. Luke's Medical Center, led by Dr. Juliet Cervantes, departed for Osaka at around 3 a.m. Saturday to check on his condition.
”They decided to go there because they're not sure what his condition is,'' Ermita said.
Joining Cervantes on the flight were Doctors Jose Ledesma and Rommel Cariño, as well as Arroyo's chief of staff, Juris Soliman, and Camarines Sur Representative Diosdado “Dato'' Arroyo, Malacañang officials said.
``The doctors wanted to make sure whether there's a recurrence or not of his heart problem. In the past, he also complained of stomach pain before he was operated on,'' Ermita said.
Ms Arroyo waited for the three doctors to arrive in Osaka before departing at around 6 a.m. (Manila time) on the flight to Los Angeles en route to Peru, according to Ermita.
”She was assured of her husband's stable condition, so she went ahead with her trip to Peru,'' he said.
Ermita said the First Gentleman had been advised by Japanese doctors to stay for a few more days, but said it was up to his Filipino doctors whether to bring him back to Manila soon.
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