NOW THE SHOE IS ON THE OTHER FOOT In this photo taken on May 19, 2001, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visits ousted President Joseph Estrada at the presidential suite of Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City where he was detained along with his son, then San Juan Mayor Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada. Malacañang file photo
The presidential suite of Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) where former President Joseph Estrada and his son Jinggoy were detained for three years on plunder charges is being spruced up for its next tenant, former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Dr. Nona Legaspi, the hospital director, said she ordered minor renovations on the suite after receiving the order of Pasay Judge Jesus Mupas from the court sheriff, Rodel Buenviaje, before noon Thursday.
“No one has used the suite after Estrada, but it has been properly maintained,” she said.
The suite is made up of a living room, a kitchen, a dining area, a 25-square-meter bedroom with its own toilet and bath, and a staff room with a common bathroom, Legaspi said. The suite is separated from the main hospital and has its own security post.
Legaspi also said VMMC had the personnel and the capability to treat Arroyo, who is currently suffering from colitis, according to her physician.
But according to Estrada and his son, Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, there are two things that Arroyo should not forget to bring with her to VMMC—mousetraps and a huge pail for water.
Estrada recalled in a phone interview that there was no hot water in the bathroom that he had to share with Jinggoy, who was then mayor of San Juan City. Worse, he said, water from the tap not only came in trickles (“patak-patak”) but was also totally cut off by 9 p.m.
“I had to ask for a pail to collect water and I had to heat it myself [for baths],” he said.
Estrada said visitors also had to use the bathroom. A guest who wished to remain anonymous said the toilet would not flush when she came to visit.
“That toilet was really uncomfortable. But I heard that it was already renovated, so I guess Mrs. Arroyo would find it better by now,” Estrada said.
Legaspi said the Estradas paid P1.7 million to VMMC for their three-year stay.
A source in the hospital, who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said the Estradas actually owed VMMC P10 million, representing payment for utilities (water and electricity), medicines and hospital services.
Who’ll pay the bill?
Legaspi said that as VMMC director, she had “budget concerns” regarding the stay of Arroyo, who is accused of the nonbailable crime of electoral fraud.
She said that among her concerns were the hospital and medical expenses that would be incurred by the former President, and that she relayed these to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo when he called to inform her of Mupas’ order.
“I have asked Secretary Robredo and Defense [Undersecretary Eduardo] Batac to give me guidance and [to say] who will foot the bill,” Legaspi said. “I have to ask because this is a veterans’ hospital and everything here is free for the veterans. We want to know if [Arroyo’s] medicines and other services will all be provided by the hospital.”
Legaspi said she also wanted to know “if Arroyo will be bringing her own doctors, or will she relinquish her medical attention to us?”
She said that as standard procedure for patient transfer, all medical records of the incoming patients were turned over to the admitting hospital.
Legaspi said she would designate the hospital’s chief of clinics to act as the VMMC spokesperson to issue medical bulletins, if necessary.
She said she would seek a meeting with representatives of the concerned government agencies, including the Philippine National Police and VMMC.
“We will follow the order of the court and will defer to it and other agencies which have jurisdiction over the hospital [regarding] details of the former President’s stay,” Legaspi said.
Mice galore
Jinggoy Estrada recalled in a separate phone interview that the suite was “spacious enough for Daddy and myself, but when there were guests around, it really got cramped.”
He said he remembered seeing only a hospital bed in the bedroom when he arrived. “I had to have the suite semi-furnished. I asked for a personal ref, a sofa and other furniture pulled out of our house and brought there,” he said.
Former President Estrada replaced the single air-conditioning unit in the bedroom where he slept.
“The old one barely functioned. I imagined that if that presidential suite was meant for President [Ramon] Magsaysay, can you guess how old that aircon unit was?” he said, chuckling.
Estrada joked that he intentionally left his air-conditioning unit behind at the hospital when he was transferred to Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal province, “because I knew then that [Arroyo] would eventually use it.”
All other areas of the suite had electric fans for ventilation, according to the father and son.
Jinggoy said he slept in the hallway that led to the kitchen. “I had to wait until all the guests had left before I could lay down the bonbon (folding) bed. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to sleep if others were still walking around,” he said.
At night, he said, he had to contend with a different kind of nocturnal visitor: “I had pets. Maraming bubwit (There were lots of baby mice)! I had to put flypaper under my folding bed to prevent them from climbing up on me,” he said.
This and the fact that the kitchen area was quite cramped meant that the Estradas had to have their food delivered straight from the family residence on Polk Street in Greenhills, San Juan City.
“The food was still warm when it arrived from the trip, but when the guards would check it, kinakalkal nila (they would inspect it closely). I really don’t know what they were looking for,” Jinggoy said.
No cell phones
The guards were so strict that all cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices were forbidden.
“We only had [TV sets],” Jinggoy said. “Daddy had one and I got a small one that I would watch in the kitchen,” Jinggoy said.
“I remember there was a telenovela that I followed that starred Lorna Tolentino. There was really nothing to do but eat and sleep. I gained so much weight,” he said.
Estrada recalled one time when a visitor was able to smuggle in a cell phone. “I had a live interview using that phone. But the guard assigned at that time was relieved,” he said.
Father and son were rarely allowed to leave the suite, even just to get some sun, they said.
Jinggoy said the power once went out because of a typhoon. “There was absolutely no ventilation. I had to go outside to get some air, but the guards were adamant and ordered me to return to the suite,” he said.
Estrada said patients and guests from other rooms would shout his name whenever he was allowed to get some air.
When guests came
“I have to tell you this because this is true. One time when Gloria visited me, I had to walk her back to her vehicle. And while we were outside, the people were shouting [my nickname] ‘Erap! Erap!’ I don’t think she was amused,” he said.
Estrada said the cramped space offered no privacy when guests were around.
“One time, Jinggoy’s children came. I saw them crying, probably because they pitied their father. That was the most painful thing—seeing my grandchildren crying. I could not help it because there was nothing else to look at,” he said.
It did not help that visitors were a constant.
“My Cabinet members were allowed to visit on Saturdays but only between 4 and 6 p.m. I remember when it was [the late Fernando Poe Jr.’s] birthday. We still managed to have a party but there were only eight people—FPJ, his wife Susan, my wife Loi, Jinggoy and some others,” Estrada said.
Jinggoy, however, recalled a time when the Arroyo administration suddenly banned all visitors, except for family, for about two weeks.
“That was a difficult time. In that situation, the guests were the only connection to the real world outside, and they were all barred from coming. It was so frustrating,” he said.
Estrada said the hospital experience might have been challenging, but he still preferred it to the more harrowing two-week detention in a military facility in Sta. Rosa, Laguna province.
“All I can recall was that it was always very dark. No visitors were allowed. Our quarters were about a kilometer from the gate, and they would not let Loi’s vehicle in. A security escort had to fetch her so she could see us,” he said, adding:
“What we have undergone was not only humiliating. All the discomfort and sacrifices, we experienced. I don’t want Mrs. Arroyo to suffer like that. Hospital arrest would be better for her.”