Arroyo wants to attend wake of brother-in-law Ignacio

Former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has asked the Pasay Regional Trial Court to allow her to attend the wake of her brother-in-law, Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo.

In an urgent motion filed with the Pasay Regional Trial Court on Wednesday, Arroyo said she was saddened when she heard the news of Iggy’s passing last week.

“Accused is extremely saddened and deserves to attend the wake of her late brother-in-law in order to pay her respects and to join the rest of her husband’s family in mourning the untimely demise of Representative Iggy Arroyo,” she said in her petition.

She asked to be “granted permission to attend the wake of her brother-in-law… under such terms and conditions as the honorable court may deem proper under the circumstances.”

According to the document, Iggy Arroyo’s remains are expected to arrive in the Philippines over the weekend, and the venue and other details of the wake would be known over the next couple of days.

Judge Jesus Mupas is set to hear the petition at 8:30 a.m., as well as a motion from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to have Arroyo, who has been charged with the nonbailable capital offense of electoral sabotage, transferred to an ordinary jail.

Arroyo has been detained at the Veterans’ Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) since her arrest last December.

In a related development, Arroyo’s team of doctors at the VMMC has complied with Mupas’ order for them to submit a report on Arroyo’s condition in relation to Comelec’s motion.

Doctors Victoria Javier, Martha Nucum, Rafaelita Javier, Antonio Sison and Ruben Cardenas filed an eight-page compliance report containing a clinical abstract, orthopedic abstract and medical abstract.

In the compliance report, the doctors said Arroyo is being treated for infectious colitis, hypoparathyroidism, hypocalcemia, hypomagnesia, vitamin D deficiency, cervical spondylosis and spinal sterosis.

They noted that five months after having spinal surgery in St. Luke’s Hospital in Taguig, Arroyo is still complaining of neck pain, back pain and difficulty swallowing, among other ailments.

The doctors said they wanted “to continue intensive physiotherapy as the best treatment option with close supervision.”

They also said her cervical brace can be removed but advised that she should be careful with simple movements.

The doctors also said they wanted to perform another operation on Arroyo.

“Elective surgery is considered but after three major spine operations, the patient is not physically and emotionally prepared to undergo another spine procedure. The best option at the moment is to continue conservative treatment with intensive [physiotherapy] with close supervision,” the report said.

Mupas is expected to weigh the doctors’ plans in deciding on the Comelec’s petition.