MANILA, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is A(H1N1) virus-free after all and ended her self-quarantine Thursday.

But Sen. Loren Legarda submitted herself on Thursday to a voluntary five-day quarantine shortly after returning from Switzerland.

Legarda told reporters that she showed no signs of the swine flu virus when she arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport early yesterday.

But she said it was best to follow the advice of the Department of Health for those returning from abroad to go on self-quarantine.

After close to two days of self-quarantine, Ms Arroyo yesterday checked out of Asian Hospital and was back in Malacañang.

“President Macapagal-Arroyo checked out of Asian Medical Center at around 2 p.m. (Thursday) with a clean bill of health,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said in a text to reporters.

While on quarantine at the hospital beginning Tuesday night, she underwent “certain checkups” and “all the results were OK,” Remonde said. From the hospital, Ms Arroyo motored back to Malacañang.

13-day foreign trip

Ms Arroyo checked in at Asian Hospital on Tuesday night for a self-imposed quarantine, a day after she arrived from a 13-day swing through Japan, Brazil, Colombia and Hong Kong, countries hit by the swine flu virus.

Before flying to Japan on June 17, she underwent an “annual gynecological checkup” at the same hospital.

In view of her quarantine, Ms Arroyo canceled her itinerary this week, beginning with Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.

10 outstanding students

On Thursday morning, Ms Arroyo also missed the annual awarding ceremonies for the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP) in Malacañang, and designated Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita to represent her.

The TOSP is an annual recognition program that honors graduating college students not only for academic excellence but also for their active involvement in activities that redound to the good of the majority of people.

This was established by businessman Jose Concepcion Jr. of RFM Foundation in cooperation with the RFM Corp., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., National Bookstore and The Outstanding Students of the Philippines Alumni Community.

Disaster risk reduction

Legarda stayed in Geneva for two weeks as she keynoted the second session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction then later spoke, along with former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and other heads of state, at the Global Humanitarian Forum, which dealt with the “human impact of climate change.”

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) paid for the trip since Legarda is a proponent of disaster-risk reduction and climate change adaptation in Asia Pacific, the region that absorbed 80 percent of destruction wrought by climate change-induced and aggravated disasters last year.

Quarantine, forum

From the airport, Legarda went straight to the Senate to make the announcement of her voluntary self-quarantine and give her take on the burning issues of the day.

At the weekly Kapihan sa Senado forum, Legarda warned that there would be a “drastic drop” in food production, or a decrease of 1 to 2 percent of growth in the agricultural sector for this quarter, due to the early rains and climate change.

“Climate change should be declared a national security issue. That’s what we talked about in Europe. I am scoring the government for not giving adequate, sufficient support and awareness to climate change, which is not a scientific issue. It’s a day-to-day survival issue. That’s why I’m calling for climate justice,” she said.

‘Climate justice’

She explained that the new buzzword meant “giving justice to the poor, to the marginalized, to the hungry brought about by changes in environment.”

The term climate justice refers to “polluter must pay principle,” or rich nations helping developing nations adapt to changes brought about by the warming temperature, she said.